ASL Reborn
by skye113
Summary: Ace is on the Moby and has staked his pride on defeating Whitebeard. When he loses, he didn't expect to be kidnapped. However, things are much more complicated than they seem. Ace struggles to juggle his dream, his heritage, the apparent revival of a dead brother, and everything else in between (rewrite of ASL Adventures).
1. Chapter 1

Hello, everyone! I have good news and bad news for you...

The bed news is that my fanfic, ASL Adventures, is still on hiatus and will no longer be updated. However, I have taken the advice of one of my readers to make a rewrite! (Thank you to Sweetsnakes)

So here it is!

There will be some major changes but the overall plot should remain relatively intact.

I am sorry for wait but I have been extremely busy. Also, this fanfic will have slow updates!

Thank you of you took the time to read what I wrote here, and enjoy!

(I do not own One Piece)

* * *

 _How am I still this far from the top?_

Ace was staring at the ceiling of a random storage room on the Moby, flagship of the Whitebeard pirates.

Whitebeard.

One of the four Emperors of the sea and the strongest man in the world. Rumored to have strength equal to him.

And the person he had (stupidly, now that he thought about it), challenged six days ago, only to get swatted aside like a fly.

Kidnapped.

And…

 _Become my son._

Ace glared vehemently at the walls of his dim enclosure.

He was going to take Whitebeard's head. No matter what they say, no matter how much they laugh, he would do it. Accomplish his lifelong dream.

See how much they would laugh at him then.

Ace let out a quiet sigh, his ire fading as nostalgia replaced the empty space left behind.

"If you were here, you'd lecture me, wouldn't you, Sabo?" He said aloud.

But he wasn't here.

He wasn't here because he was dead, his small ship shot down by some bastard World Noble before he would ever get more than a taste often freedom he had always longed for.

Because you left him. A voice whispered in his head. You abandoned him with the parents you knew he hated. You're the reason why he's dead, gone, instead of sailing the seas.

And it was true. Even Luffy, the moron, had thought to try and get Sabo back, but he, he said that Sabo was better off being a caged bird forever.

 _It is all your_ _fault. Everything is your fault._

Ace bit his lip, hard.

The world would be better off if you had died.

After Sabo had died, he had tried his best to take care of Luffy, to teach him and to get him out of trouble, because he owed Sabo that much, because that was Sabo's last wish.

 _flashback-_

"You're supposed to hit the tree, not yourself! I told you, your stupid rubber fruit is useless!"

"No it isn't!" A childish stomp of a sandaled foot. "I am improving, right, Sabo?"

"…"

A sniffle.

"Crybaby!"

"Sabo was the nicer brother." Another sniffle.

"What do you mean, baka?!"

 _flashback end_

If Ace had been the one to die, Sabo would have done a much better job raising Luffy. He would have been kinder to him, and wouldn't let Luffy get eaten by crocodiles or maimed by bears, and he would have taught Luffy patiently instead of getting annoyed and leaving Luffy alone.

If Ace had died, everything would have been so much better.

* * *

"Do you see the fire brat?" Fossa asked, arms crossed and looking very annoyed as he approached the Commander's table in the mess hall.

"Nope! Haven't seen him all day." Haruta said cheerfully, carefully separating the carrots from the rest of her food.

"Well, someone better tell him to stop destroying all the walls and railings on the ship!" He huffed angrily.

"It's pops that been throwing him into the walls, yoi, and Haruta, if you don't eat the carrots Thatch might ignore you for the rest of the week." Marco warned lazily, sitting down.

"Have you seen the fire brat, Mar-"

"I'm allergic to the damn things!" Haruta interrupted indignantly.

"Well, what symptoms do you have?"

"I want to throw up every time I see them." Haruta stated flatly.

"Sorry, Haruta, but that's categorized as 'severe dislike,' not allergy." Marco said patronizingly. "And I think I saw Portgas on deck a few minutes ago." He offered.

"You are not going to believe it when you see the expenses for fixing all the damage he's caused." Fossa grunted irritably.

"We've had some more stubborn brothers in the past. They all came through. Portgas may be one of the more stubborn ones but he can't be any worse than Jozu!" Thatch popped up. He took one look at Haruta's plate. "Haruta…"

"Okay, okay, I'm eating them!" She said, in a much worse mood. "I don't see why pops still keeps him around."

"A lot of our brothers weren't exactly the friendliest people when we first met them." Thatch pointed out.

"He's just insufferable." Haruta huffed. "You'd think if he had any brains he'd have realized that pops isn't even fighting him seriously, but he's still insists that he could beat pops!"

"Hey-" Izou interjected, placing his plate down.

"There is nothing likeable like him!" Haruta continued rambling.

"I wouldn't go that far, Haruta." Izou said sharply. Then, more moderately, he continued, "Oyaji does intend for Portgas to become one of our brothers. Not everything can, or should be determined at first glance."

"Yeah, yeah." Haruta rolled her eyes childishly.

"Have you finished your paperwork yet?" Izou raised an eyebrow delicately.

Dark clouds formed over many commander's heads.

"I'll take that as a no, then." He laughed. "I suggest you begin soon. I do not desire to hear your insistent complaining about losing sleep again."

"The deadline is still a week away," Haruta protested feebly, poking at her food.

"Yes, it is." Izou said agreeably. "And tomorrow, you'll tell me it's still six days away, then five, and you'll start everything when there's only two days left."

He watched with slight amusement as Haruta rolled her eyes again, shoved the last of the hated carrots in her mouth and departed from the table, presumably to start the paperwork for the twelfth division.

Then the feminine commander's thoughts turned back to the 'guest' on the ship, who made it very clear that he had no wish to be anywhere near the ship.

If Portgas was a bit more open and friendly, most of the Whitebeards would probably feel respect for his perseverance and his obvious loyalty to his crew.

Currently, his short temper, extreme paranoia and refusal to cooperate the tiniest bit combined with continual assassination attempts of their father figure led the crew to have an overall negative attitude towards the boy (yes, boy, Bay had estimated that he was barely out of his teens, if that).

Even the commanders, who strived to maintain a neutral attitude of new recruits until when they formally join (and when the Whitebeards set their sights on someone, it's only a matter of time before they cave) were having trouble this time, particularly poor Fossa, who had to repair the damage their 'guest' had caused on the ship. And Haruta, with the mood swings and recklessness that often came with youth.

Izou himself had had a few encounters with the captain of the Spade pirates, and he had to admit that Portgas was capable for his age. He had led his crew through the Grand Line and into the New World without much problem and had even been invited to join the Shichibukai. (A lot of his crewmates had been impressed when he refused).

He would make an interesting brother when he joined.

 _Till next time!_


	2. Chapter 2

"I'm going to be a pirate when I grow up! I'll show everyone that I'm more than just his son!"

"Yeah! We'll be the freest pirates alive."

"You can join my crew, Sabo."

"Hey, you two are joining my crew! The crew of the future King of the Pirates needs you!"

"Dream on, Luffy. There is not way I'm working under you."

"Let's set sail at seventeen, and live the way we wanna live!"

* * *

"Hey, is he okay?"

"Yeah, did pops hit him too hard this time?"

"Someone poke him!"

"Do it yourself! I don't want to get burned!"

"What's going on?" Marco approached the crowd gathered around the deck.

"Commander, I think there's something wrong with Fire Fist." Someone piped up.

"Something wrong with him, yoi?" Marco tried to get a look but had to push through a lot of people standing in the way.

"Yeah, he's just… Lying there?"

"Lying there…?"

Ace was sprawled on the floor, the most relaxed the pirates had ever seen him.

Whether it was a good thing or a bad thing, Marco couldn't decide.

"How did this… Happen?"

"Pops threw him into a wall. Usually he just gets up and leaves, right?"

"Yeah."

"He's not dead, right?"

"Well, he is pretty weak."

"Stronger than you!"

"Hey, he's waking up!"

In truth, Ace had had the misfortune of having a narcolepsy attack and was waking up in a relatively good mood because of a pleasant dream.

He heard a voice. "Shut up, Dadan, Mogra." He said sleepily.

Silence.

The whispers started again.

"What did he say?"

"So he isn't dead…"

"Of course not!"

Ace opened his eyes in annoyance at the commotion. The words he had been prepared to say died in his mouth.

He had thought he was safe, at home for a moment, but saw instead the faces of people he hated.

With a growl he got up and shoved his way through the pirates, in a much fouler mood than before.

I have a family.

I don't need you all to care.

I don't need a father.

"What's with him?" A pirate asked his companion. "What a jerk."

"Yeah." Another muttered his agreement.

"What did pops see in him?"

Marco frowned. "Everyone, go back to your work, yoi." He ordered in annoyance.

I was like that before, too, wasn't I?

* * *

"It's snowing!" Haruta squealed. "Snow! Snowballs! Snowmen! Snow sculptures! Hot chocolate!"

"Why does everything but 'hot chocolate' start with snow?" Jiru muttered.

"Because it's snowing!" Haruta looked like she was about to burst out of her short form in excitement. "And hot chocolate is awesome!"

"How old is she again?" Fossa whispered.

"Nobody tell Thatch. He's almost just as bad." Curiel joined in.

"Too late." Jiru said grimly.

"Haruta!" The pompadoured cook called out. "Snowball fight?"

"Hot chocolate!" She countered.

"After." He compromised.

Soon, any brave souls venturing across or near the sectioned of portion of the deck was liable to be hit in the face with multiple snowballs while the fierce competition between the fourth and twelfth divisions raged on. (They were roped into it).

At one point Ace managed to accidentally wander into the forbidden area but didn't seem to notice when snowballs hit him because they promptly melted and/or evaporated.

This quickly caught the attention of both ringleaders of the impromptu 'Snowball Tournament.'

"Ace!"

"Huh?" Ace was startled.

"Join us!"

"Join you…?" He asked in bewilderment, too caught off guard to reply properly.

"That's not fair!" Haruta shouted from her side of the deck. "He's fire, he'll melt all of the snow!"

Thatch ignored her. "Can you just stand here for a second?"

"Uh? Okay?" He didn't see the difference between thinking where he had been before and where he was now.

And thus, with a fire-man in the middle, all of the snowballs twelfth division threw melted when they got near.

Ace didn't notice until something whizzed pass his head and miraculously escaped close proximity with him relatively intact.

"Seriously? That's why you asked me to stand here?"

"It's perfect!" Thatch boasted triumphantly.

"But if you try to throw the snowballs at them they'll melt, too."

"Ah…" There was a wench in his plans now. "Could you move aside?"

Ace shrugged. "Sure, why not." And he wandered away.

Ten minutes later, Haruta went to her room to get multiple snowballs melting in her hair out of her hair looking extremely annoyed.

* * *

Sorry for the wait, guys but that's chapter two! I apologize if you feel its short... Because it is, and will most likely be standard length from now on. I hope you enjoyed reading and I'll see you all next time!


	3. Chapter 3

Hi everyone, I'm back with chapter 3!

Before I begin the chapter, however, I would like everyone to know that while in One Piece some character, (like Haruta, for example) may be a male character, I'm making her female here because this is only fanfiction and it doesn't look anything like the manga. Besides I think it suits the story better!

Also when I write I have all the flashbacks and thought in Italic but when I copy it onto Doc Manager it all disappears… if you guys know anything about that please tell me because without it I know it might be a bit difficult to differentiate between which parts are memories and which are not.

I also stand by my warning of slow updates and I would like to add "random updates" as well. I planned to get this out last week but I managed to delete all my work so… haha sorry it won't (probably) happen again (too often).

Thank you so much to everyone who read/favorited/followed/reviewed. For me writing is a fun way to pass the time but it's awesome when people actually like reading what you write.

* * *

"Rubber is a stupid devil fruit!"

"Nu-uh! It's awesome!"

A scoff. "It's totally useless. You can't even hit someone without hitting yourself in the face."

"I will be able to and then I'll beat you!" He stomped his foot childishly.

"Dream on."

"Ooh! It's a devil fruit! Eat it, Ace!"

"No way."

"But I wanna call your fruit stupid too!"

"If I eat it who'll save you when you fall into the ocean, baka?"

"I don't need anyone to save me! Just watch, one day I'll save your ass!"

"Uh huh."

"Just eat it!" He whined.

"Nope. You eat it."

"Can't. Shanks said so."

"Why not?"

He scrunched up his forehead. "Uh...I forgot."

"Then you can eat it."

"Nope! Shanks said not to."

"Well, then…"

"Just eat it! Shanks says it makes you stronger!"

"..."

"It's disgusting." Ace choked.

"Oh. Right. They taste really bad. If you drank some milk it'll be better." Luffy nodded emphatically.

"You tell me that now?"

"I forgot!"

"So, what do you think my fruit is?"

"Dunno."

"Hmmm. How did you find out you were rubber?"

"Shanks grabbed my arm as I was walking away."

"Hmmm. Well. Okay."

* * *

"Marine ship at two o'clock!" The lookout shouted from the crows nest, spurring most of the crew into action.

"We haven't had a decent fight in ages!"

"Do you think they are still here to take pop's head? They should have given up by now, right?" Boisterous laughing.

"Oyaji! The cannons are ready."

"Hey, the marines are signaling for parley!"

"Commander Marco, should we fire?"

"Let's see what they have to say, yoi."

"Any idea where Fire Fist is?" Jozu rumbled.

"No. He doesn't usually show up too often, except when trying to kill pops, of course."

The marine ship got gradually closer, but neither side made any move to attack the other.

Whitebeard was sitting on his throne, watching the marines on the ship scurry back and forth. The commanders were surrounding him.

"What do you think they want, pops?" Haruta asked.

"We will have to wait and see."

When the marine ship and the Moby was side by side, the commanding officer- a Rear Admiral, who looked like he would much rather be fighting them, cleared his throat. "We have no intentions of attack you." The words sounded strangled.

"It wouldn't bother us if you did." Thatch said, stroking the hilt of his swords.

"We are simply here to make an inquiry and possibly deliver a message."

"A message, yoi?"

He nodded. "Is Fire-Fist Ace on your ship?"

There was a stunned silence.

"Why?" Vista asked cautiously. He couldn't fathom why the marines would be interested in that though since Spade Pirates challenging them had been common knowledge, it made sense that the marines would ask them.

"The message is meant for him."

"He isn't." Haruta chimed in. "You can look somewhere else."

At this moment, Ace chose to wander back on deck to ask Marco a question.

"What's with the huge crowd?" He muttered, shoving his way through various pirates. "Have you seen Marco?" He asked a random pirate.

"Yeah, he's with pops."

"Why is everyone crowded around the deck?"

The same pirate answered. "There's a marine battleship."

Ace didn't hear him as he was busy shoving his way to Whitebeard's throne.

"Marco-" He paused as he took in the scene, raising an eyebrow.

The marines looked confused as to why one of the commanders had seemingly lied, Haruta was furious, and the rest of the pirates were amused/confused/didn't care/other.

"Here!" The Rear Admiral tossed a package to him and hightailed it out of there.

That left Ace, who caught the package, looking bewildered. "Huh?"

"Ace, dear, do you know anyone in the marines?" Izou asked carefully, fanning himself.

"Yea- No. I mean there was this marine that kept on chasing me, does that count?"

No one answered him.

Ace began examining the package. He shook it back and forth, the first step to identifying possibly dangerou- interesting, he corrected, things an anonymous person had kindly sent him.

He had an inkling on which person/people had blackmailed a marine of all people to delivering a package to the him, on the flagship of the Whitebeard pirates, but he could consider that later.

Something rattled inside the bag.

"Hmmm." He looked the bag over and discovered a bunch of letters attached. He was about to eagerly tear the letters open when he realized exactly where he was.

When he looked up, there were a lot of pirates that were trying to inconspicuously take peek at what he was doing that scratched their heads guilty and promptly looked away when he saw them.

To maintain some semblance of privacy he moved closer to the mast, where there were less pirates gathered.

He could hear the commanders breaking up the crowd.

"Alright guys, the show's over, get back to work."

He relaxed and opened the first letter.

It was not signed, and simply read

A sword is a swordsman's soul.

He knew exactly who that was, and now had a good guess on why the package was so long.

There was also numbers scrawled on the bottom of the short note, which he examined curiously before moving on.

My dearest brother-in-law… was written in elegant script.

Ace groaned in annoyance. Seriously, this woman… when was she going to realize that Luffy had no intention to marry her? He was only 15!

The letter was extremely lengthy, and Ace decided to move on, making a mental note to read it later.

He was delighted to find a letter from Makino.

Ace, we all saw your newest bounty poster. Congratulations on becoming a great pirate! Dadan always goes on and on about you latest actions. She cares for you much more than you might realize. We were worried when we didn't get any news for awhile, and then news that you challenged Whitebeard, but Garp-san assure us you were fine. Even Dadan and Woop Slap were concerned, though they denied it, of course. Are you happy? Whatever you do, be happy. Follow your heart, and don't look back. Everyone sends you their best wishes.

Makino… Ace felt fondness for the mother figure he had met. She would always bring them clothes, cookies, teach them to read and manners and stuff, and he always was suspicious of her because if she knew he was a demon child she would hate him.. But he found out later that Dadan, the bandits and everyone in Fushia knew his heritage, but didn't care.

One place he could call home.

He moved on to a torn up piece paper with barely legible print.

Brat, stop making Makino worry about you.

Short and sweet. It wasn't signed, but it didn't need to be.

It was nice to know that Dadan cared, a bit.

Ace slowly read through all of his letters, savoring each and every word.

It was really nice to have people who remembered you.

* * *

It was a bit difficult to write Makino's part because I don't really know what she might write in this kind of situation. Something that came to mind for me when I was proofreading this is that Ace seems a bit different in attitude and behavior since it hasn't been very long since he was kidnapped and logically he shouldn't have opened up this much, this quickly, and some of you might wonder about that as well, and the fact that Luffy's actually with Ace when he find the fruit… I meant to write it that way and I have plans for it, so relax!


	4. Chapter 4

Quick update this time as an apology for messing up last week!

I don't have much to say so I won't say anything else then… (more on the bottom)

* * *

Occasionally, a Whitebeard pirate would look up and glance at Ace, who was smiling softly, and wondering if it was a miracle.

The commanders were gathered around their father, and were supposed to be discussing their allies but instead were spying on the fire-man and gossiping over it.

It was disturbing how pirates tended to gossip over everything, something most often used while describing schoolgirls.

"So he can smile…."

"Who do you think it's from?"

"His sweetheart!" Izou clapped.

"Seriously?"

"Do you think he'll say anything about it?"

"I've never seen him look at anything without scowling, except maybe the sea and his hat."

"The sea?"

"Yeah. He stares at it with this weird smile that looks sad but then isn't. You haven't seen?"

"Pops." Haruta walked up the their huge captain. "I'm concerned about Fire Fist."

"Oh?" The captain put down his tankard regretfully. "My daughter, what plagues you?"

"Haruta, you might not like Fire Fist as a person but you should reserve judgement for until he actually joins." Izou reprimanded softly. "Pops intends for him to become one of our brothers."

Haruta huffed. "I have no grudge against him." She protested.

"Yet, and yet. I have never seen you talk to Fire Fist, nor attempt to approach him. Even when you look at him, you never cease to glare. Whenever someone talks about him, you storm away." Izou smoothed his kimono. "All this, and you can claim that you enjoy his company?"

"Fine." Haruta grumbled. "I don't like him! I just don't. But I've never done anything except stay away from him."

"Yes." Izou agreed patiently. "So you, like most of our brothers, take one look at the prickly young man, hear him say one sentence about wanting to accomplish his dream, decide that you dislike him, and give up."

"Give up?"

"Because you never attempt to talk to him, you will never understand his thoughts. Because you never approach him, you will never gain his trust to lay his heart to you. Because you never give him a second thought, the impression you have of him as an arrogant, overconfident rookie stays, and never changes." Izou let out a sigh and turned to face the sea, and noticed out of the corner of his eye that Ace had disappeared.

"If you dislike someone, you stay away from them." Haruta said stubbornly. "I refuse to constantly be with someone I am uncomfortable with."

"When Jozu first joined, did you like him?"

"But he hasn't joined!"

"The fact that he hasn't does not mean he never will." Izou sighed. "Think about it."

Whitebeard watched their exchange with slight concern in his eyes. He resolved to think about it later when the argument ended and Haruta turned her attention back to him.

"Pops, I'm being strictly professional here, but the fact that Fire Fist got mail, and a package with unknown items inside delivered by a marine Rear Admiral and his battleship, this doesn't raise any questions?"

"Portgas was invited to join the Seven Warlords of the Sea." Izou nodded. "But he refused. They might have covered it up, but there is little chance of coming back from something like that."

"But still, his relationship with the marines is questionable."

"There is no way he's a marine spy." Thatch said bluntly. "For one, he can't lie to save his life. Half the things he's done has given the World Government heart attacks. And the bounty. Nothing about Ace screams marine."

"He would make an unusual marine." Whitebeard nodded.

"He isn't!" Thatch argued hotly.

"I didn't say he was a marine," Haruta looked annoyed. "Just that he has connections to the marines."

"There's a difference?"

"Duh! People like the Warlords have connections to the marines, but aren't necessarily marines themselves!"

"Oh. Well, that makes sense, I guess…"

"I'm not saying that you all should suddenly become suspicious of Portgas, just that we might want to look into it." Haruta concluded seriously.

I don't trust him, but pops does… Portgas D. Ace, I will give you the benefit of doubt. Should you betray our trust I will not hesitate to kill you.

* * *

Ace's world was crashing down on his head.

A piece of paper was crumbled in his clenched fist.

This cannot be happening.

He was grateful that whoever had written the warning (judging by the handwriting, Hancock, who was pretty annoying but had heart, he supposed), so he wouldn't have had a nervous breakdown in front of everyone on the deck.

Save this for last. Make sure to read it alone.

He was seeing flashes- memories, memories he had buried to the back of his mind and rarely revisited.

If it was true…

Did Luffy know? Did Makino and Dadan?

Did Rayleigh know?

He should. Gramps would have given him a heads up or something…

Shitty brat. I'm going to warn you- don't get your hopes up, but the marines have gotten some intelligence on the Revolutionary Army lately. More specifically, about their new Chief of Staff. His name is, of all things, Sabo. Do you still remember, Ace? Years ago, when his ship was shot down I knew my shitty son was nearby! If this is true, and he rescued the other brat, and this brat we've heard rumors of is Sabo… He has amnesia. He doesn't remember anything. Don't go and cause me any more headaches, shitty brat.

Could it be true?

 _Don't get your hopes up._

It was too much of a coincidence.

 _He doesn't remember anything._

He forgot. He _forgot._

 _I knew my shitty son was nearby!_

We mourned him. All of us.

 _Do you still remember?_

How could I ever forget?

 _If this is true..._

If he's alive…

 _We need to find him._

* * *

Okay! And that's it! What do you think? A bit too dramatic?  
Did any of you see that coming? I know it was a bit short but this is mostly just plot development.

If you have questions you can ask me but no promises in answering them if it's spoilers… I probably won't have time answering during the week too…

Until next time!


	5. Chapter 5

I totally didn't plan to make you guys wait (totally). I really did have a lot of homework and the 2nd semester is starting soon, and all that drama.

And I promise to try (can't promise) not to make (too many) cliffhangers (really!) or maybe some smaller ones?

I'd say I got this out pretty quickly this time (what was it, 2 weeks or so?)

You're all probably tired of my blabbing, so… enjoy?

* * *

"Marco." Thatch looked worried. "Have you seen Ace?"

"No, why?"

"I think there's something wrong. He was pretty happy earlier, right?"

"Yeah…"

"He's looking for you, and he looks like he's in the mood to commit murder." Thatch whispered.

"Seriously?" Marco frowned. "This isn't a prank, right?" He asked suspiciously.

Thatch looked uncommonly serious and worried. "I'm being dead serious. You should be careful."

"I'll keep an eye out."

"Marco."

"Ace, yoi." Marco understood what Thatch meant now. The teen was looking murderous, but he also sensed a slight bit of… hope.

What the hell is going on?

"You guys have an map of the Grand Line right? Where you keep the locations of your allies and stuff?" He asked bluntly.

Taken aback, Marco hesitated. "Yeah, we do." Okay, that was not information a rookie should have… I need to ask Haruta to look into it. Or… Maybe not. Haruta doesn't need even more reason to be hostile.

"How often is it updated?"

"Hourly, yoi. How do you know this in the first place?"

"You can think/ask about that later." Ace said. "Who do you keep track of? Your allies?"

"Of course."

"The other Emperors?"  
"Whenever possible."  
"Marines?"

"Yes, but-"

"Revolutionary Army?" Ace interrupted.

"Some." Marco took the hint and suppressed the urge to ask questions.

"Warlords?"

"Depends on who they are."

"Okay." Ace nodded. "I will provide you with the locations of some aforementioned people if you let me see the map."

"What?"

"Exchange of information." Ace said impatiently. "By the way, it contains the Blues, too, not just Paradise and the New World right?"

"Yes…" Marco answered slowly, unsure of whether or not he should simply bring the brat to Navigation and see what he does. "Give me a second to ask pops." He waited to see if Ace would protest but the teen simply made an impatient 'hurry up and go' gesture.

When Marco informed Whitebeard about Ace's strange and out-of-the-blue request, the Captain simply laughed, catching the attention of pirates and nurses nearby.

"Go on, son. Let's see what he does."

With his Captain's approval, he led Ace to a previously spacious room now cluttered with log poses, maps, plotted courses and other materials.

There were a few people discussing something around a map that looked up when the two entered.

Marco received a chorus of "Commander." Most of the pirates present chose to ignore

Ace, while a few glared at him. Some of the crew still had some pretty hostile attitude towards Ace, and they couldn't be blamed because it wasn't like Ace had tried to make himself particularly likeable.

"You can go back to work, yoi." He replied.

In the center of the room was a map spread over a table.

There were figures and pins dotting the map, the map itself a testimony of how much of the New World the Whitebeard Pirates had explored.

"So, what did you want to see, yoi?" Marco broke the silence and questioned the teen who was intently studying the map.

"What does this represent?" He asked, avoiding the question, and pointed to a figure of a sword. "Hawkeye?"

"Yes."

Ace made to pick up the figure but stopped. "Do you have paper?"

Marco wordlessly handed him a piece of paper and a pen.

Ace tore off a corner and wrote 'Hawkeye' on it, then '3 days.' "You don't mind if I use that, right?"

"No."

Ace nodded, taking a pin, then seemingly stuck the paper in a random location before continuing inspecting the map.

"Ace, yoi?"

"Hawkeye will be on Gloom Island for the next three days." He stated. "Of course, if you don't trust me you can always remove it."

Marco blinked.

"Is this the Kujas?"

He nodded slowly.

Ace tore off another piece of paper and wrote, 'en route to Amazon Lily,' before pinning it halfway between their homeland in the Calm Belt and Sabaody Archipelago.

Ace continued adding little notes to the map for a few more pirates and even a few marines. "What's this?" He asked perplexed, gesturing towards an oddly shaped figurine.

"Garp the Fist, yoi."

Ace paled rapidly, then calmed down when he saw it was halfway across the world from their position. "Please tell me that this is the most recent information."

"That's from a week ago."

"Why is there a marine battleship in Alabasta?"

"Vice Admirals Strawberry and Stainless have been sent there to apologize on behalf of the Marine for the whole fiasco with the former Warlord, Crocodile, who was planning a civil war and overthrowing the Alabastian royal family. It's embarrassing for them that he was defeated by Straw Hat Luffy, a pirate."

Ace had a delighted smile on, which quickly faded. "You're just giving me this information?"

"If you read the newspaper you would know this too."

"Yeah, maybe." Ace agreed. "You said you keep tabs on the other Emperors too?"

Marco pointed to an island in Paradise. "Akagami." He shifted to an area deep in the Grand Line decorated with yellow pins and names of food. "Big Mom." He pointed to Wano. "Kaido."

"Wano? Isn't that isolationist?"

"Yes, yoi."

"What about the Admirals?"

"Kizaru and Akainu are in Marineford. Aokiji probably just wandered off somewhere."

"Wandered off somewhere?" Ace sounded incredulous.

"Correct, yoi. He often just leaves for no apparent reason."

"Okay…" Irresponsible much?

"Anything else you wanted to see?"

"Uh… What about the Revolutionaries?"

"Just this one ship." Marco gestured to a ship in North Blue. "The Revolutionaries are pretty elusive, yoi." He admitted. "Unless they've liberated an island or something we don't hear much news on them. Otherwise the Marines would too."

The look of Ace's face could be described as crestfallen, or possibly the look someone would have before exploding.

"So you've got nothing else of the Revolutionaries?" There was still lingering traces of hope in his voice.

Marco felt a but guilty that they had nothing else to offer. "Well, two well known commanders of the Revolutionaries are in Impel Down." He tried.

"Impel Down?"

"Ivankov and Inazuma, yoi."

"Impel Down." Ace stared intently at the location, his tone now complentative.

Marco had a sinking feeling in his chest.

* * *

In Paradise, on an island where animals and plants have all somehow evolved to be vastly longer than their normal counterparts on normal islands, Aokiji sneezed twice in rapid succession before shrugging and continuing to make his way towards a very loud crew of rookies.

It's probably just Sengoku cursing my laziness again.

"Hey, Hoooooooorse!"

"It might just be easier to call it a giraffe." Long Nose commented.

"But it's a Hooooooooooorse!"

"Cut it out!"

"Owwww." He pouted at the navigator.

"Luffy! You need to rest! You're still seriously injured!"

* * *

If any of you are wondering where Ace is getting the information from, Hancock likes to go on and on and she mentioned where some people (warlords, marines, etc.) was going to be in her letter so Ace can be 'prepared.' (very convenient explanation, I know).

I can promise you that Ace is not doing anything (too) stupid like invading Impel Down. (That's reserved for Luffy, who, I believe, still has not shown up in anything but memories and maybe a few conversations and will continue to make himself inconspicuous for awhile). The short little scene here doesn't count because I didn't even really mention him. Personally I think Luffy will be more difficult to write because I don't have much in mind for him as of now.

If you guys don't mind, leave a review?


	6. Chapter 6

_Mihawk, Hancock, if you asked to visit an sensitive prisoner in Impel Down, would the marines let you? Have Gramps or Rayleigh told you about Blue? According to the Whitebeards, there are two Revolutionary commanders are imprisoned in Impel Down and that is the only possible lead that I have right now. If I was to ask for a Warlord position, would they still grant it? Lu defeated Crocodile so he is no longer a Warlord. If I wanted it..._

* * *

"Hey, you think he got that in his package?"

"Why would the marines give a pirate a weapon? They aren't that delusional yet."

"And what's with all the log poses?"

"Shush! I heard he's in a pretty bad mood. Just get back to work and mind your own business!"

"He can't hear us, can he?"

"Well, his attire definitely changed." Vista commented, slicking up his mustache. "As for the sword, I've never seen him wield it."

"He's a logia." Rakuyo agreed. "Not much need for a sword. You want to duel him, don't you?"

Vista shrugged. "I think just about every commander wants to see how he does with it."

"We've seen how much he's capable of. If anything, we'll be underestimating him." Jozu rumbled.

"Anyone want to volunteer to challenge him to a duel?"

"You do it."

"I'm not a swordsman." Rakuyo argued. "Besides, I still haven't finished making my modifications, so my mace is outta commission right now. Ask Thatch."

"He's probably busy."

"The rookie already caused enough damage with his daily assassination attempts. Stop encouraging him." Fossa grumbled.

"Hey! What are you all talking about?" Haruta asked.

"You want to challenge Fire Fist to a 'friendly' spar? Really?" Jiru ignored Fossa's protests.

"A 'friendly' spar?" She asked perplexed. She took in the sword hanging by his waist, then the various new log poses strapped to his forearms. "What is he doing?"

"Are those Eternal Poses?"

"Yeah, I think so." Izou said.

There was a sizable crowd of commanders gathered around now.

Ace was trying to judge their location by picturing the map he had seen the day before and observing the direction the Eternal Poses to Gloom Island, one of Shank's island far in the New World, Sabaody, and the regular one locked on to the next island.

He refrained from groaning in frustration because he still had no idea what he was doing.

 _Sabo liked navigation._

Ace gripped the railings of the ship.

 _He liked to read books and maps. He was supposed to be the navigator on my crew._

Ace blinked rapidly.

 _He would have understood this stuff._

* * *

"You challenge him!" Jiru goaded Vista.

"Ask Thatch." Vista grumbled. "I'm busy." He was lying, of course. Today was his day off. But fight the crazy rookie? No way.

"Ask me what?"

"Challenge Portgas to a duel." Jiru replied.

"A duel…?" Thatch tilted his head to the side. "Why?"

"Oh, you haven't seen?" Jiru asked.

"Seen what? I've been busy in the kitchen all day." He grumbled. "And, a few, ah, personal things, of course." His eyes gleamed.

"I'll buy you some sake next island. Leave me out of it." Vista offered immediately. He was much too tired to deal with the… Enthusiasm of the fourth division commander.

"Not a problem."

"Portgas got a shiny new sword." Jiru continued.

"He doesn't seem to be the kind of person that would be a swordsman, right?" Thatch peered around the deck, trying to find the person they were talking (not gossiping) about. "He doesn't need it… And he seems to lack the discipline."

"Will you challenge him or not?"

"Can't, I'm super busy this week." Thatch said sadly. "Haruta finished all of her paperwork, though, and she seems to have a grudge against Portgas."

"That isn't exactly the safest move."

"Pirate." Thatch shrugged.

"Whoever sees her first ask her then." Jiru offered.

"Deal." Thatch laughed inwardly, knowing he would be holed up in the kitchens for the rest of the day and the chances of meeting her was slim.

"You, too, Vista."

"What?!" Vista spluttered. "When did I agree to this?"

"Just now! Bye!" With that both commanders disappeared. Jiru was well known for his speed, while Thatch had been forced to outrun the victims he pranked and had acquired a certain speed.

"I never agreed!" Vista called.

"Agree to what?"

Turning to face the owner of the dreaded voice…

 _You can't be serious._

"Vista? Is something wrong?" Haruta asked concernedly.

"N-no, it's nothing." Maybe if he pretended he had never seen her?

Jiru reappeared. "Hey, Vista, have you seen Portga-"

"I never agreed!"

"Yes, you did." He smiled in a scary way. "We all did. Come on, Vista, don't be a sore loser!"

"How am I a sore loser now?"

"What are you even talking about?" Haruta interjected.

"Nothing, you need to know just leave." Vista started to shove her away. "You set me up!" He accused Jiru in a whisper, and got a smirk in return.

"Hey!" Haruta protested.

"He wants to ask you something." Jiru said in a sing-song manner.

"No I do not!"

"Huh?" She now looked utterly confused.

"Just say it!"

"You owe me a drink." Vista grumbled, giving in. "He wants you to challenge Portgas to a duel. Don't ask me why, I have no idea."

"A duel…" Haruta sounded thoughtful. "Okay!"

"Huh?" Vista wasn't expecting this response.

"Will do!" She sped off.

"I have a really bad feeling about this…" Vista felt a headache coming.

 _This is not how I pictured my peaceful day to be._

* * *

Ace was dizzily recovering from being thrown into a wall at three hundred miles a second.

He was fire, right? Fire doesn't _get_ dizzy!

Tell that to his brain.

"Damn he's strong." He groaned in annoyance.

"Well, of course he is." Annoying voice.

"Screw off."

"Humph. You'll never be able to defeat pops."

"If you say so."

"I bet you wouldn't even be able to beat any of the commanders in a fight." Haruta continued disdainfully.

Okay. Now that was a direct challenge to his pride.

"Saying things like that isn't very clever. Especially since your statement has never been proven in any way."

Haruta snorted. "Well, fine. You and me, swordsman's duel. If you win I'll admit you're stronger than me."

"If I win you don't need to admit that I'm stronger. You'll know."

"Then what do you want?"

"If I win, you'll stop saying I'll never be able to defeat Whitebeard." Ace stated simply. "Oh, and you'll stop calling me a rookie."

"But you are a rookie!"

"A rookie that could defeat you?"

"Fine."

"Great. Where and when?" He sat up.

"We're reaching an island soon. Not that you'll be able to cause the ship much damage anyway." She added tauntingly.

"Hmmm? On the ship, then, after docking?" There was a challenging glint in his eyes.

"Three hours after lunch."

"That sounds fine." Ace agreed.

 _It's been a long time since I've actually stretched._

* * *

MWAHAHAHAHA! Everything is finally starting!

It might seem that a lot of things are going on right now, with poor Ace in the middle of the whole mess, but! This is just the calm before the storm!

In answer to the question Anna asked in a review (thank you so much for leaving one)- Luffy is indeed 15 years old right now. With the timeline I have in mind, both of them obviously left Dawn Island before they were supposed to because of things. They spent quite some time doing stuff… somewhere… (I am trying not to drop any spoilers here!) and Ace is 17 right now. Almost 18 but not yet. He set sail at 17 (january), and Luffy following in May. That's… 6 months in between. Right now, Luffy is probably en route to Water 7. Everything on his journey up to now is the same as canon… just younger people, I guess. I hope that cleared things up a bit!

I previously planned on posting this on Friday but I decided to just go ahead with it today since I was ready.

Happy Lunar New Year, everyone!

If possible, leave a review?


	7. Chapter 7

I know you don't want to read this now, so… see notes at the end.

* * *

"You have to be joking." There was a deadpan look on Marco's face; he was annoyed to the point that he lost his normally unshakeable composure.

"Is there a problem with it?" Izou eyed him with mild interest. "It seems quite safe to me. The chances that Portgas might actually be able to harm Haruta is not high. On the other hand, it wasn't the smartest thing to do."

"Hey!" Haruta protested. "Isn't there a saying from… uh, somewhere, whatever, I can't remember from where, but that's not important! Basically if you fight someone you should eventually become friends with them. So it's great that were fighting!"

"If you fight against a mutual enemy, it's possible, yes. Not exactly if you fight them..." Izou corrected. "I'm not saying it's impossible, but you have absolutely no intention of becoming his friend. That much is quite clear."

"Vista told me to do it!" Haruta argued.

Marco started glaring at Vista, who paled and began backing away.

"Hey, don't blame me!" Vista started shaking his head frantically. "It was Jiru! I thought it wouldn't be wise, and I told them! Thatch and Jiru where the ones to recommend it!"

"Now, now. You might have had a slight lapse in judgement, dear Visty, but that's no excuse to push your friends to the wolves just to cover up your own mistake." Thatch wagged a finger in front of his face.

Vista spluttered. "It's true! I did tell you not to-"

"What is done, is done." Izou shot a reprimanding look towards Vista. "I hope this encourages you to think before acting next time, Vista. I did not expect you to have made such an unwise decision, and then try and place the blame on someone else. You should be willing to admit to your own mistakes."

"Wha-But I didn't-" Vista started protesting again.

"Shush." Thatch jabbed him in the side.

"I'm not giving up on it!" Haruta was arguing with Marco. "You can't make me!"

"Why not, yoi?"

"Because he'll think I'm scared of him!" She replied hotly.

"It doesn't, and shouldn't matter what other people think of you!"

"Well, it's not your pride on the line!" She snapped.

Whitebeard had to step in from his position on his chair and break up the argument/fight. "My daughter, you know Marco means well."

Haruta looked guiltily at the floor.

"And, my son, blaming your sister does not solve the problem. She is old enough to take care of herself and already agreed to this fight."

"Sorry, pops. I'll speak with Portgas then."

"What? You think I can't defeat him?"

"I never said that. In any case, this fight is not a good idea."

"Well, I agreed to it and so did he, so nothing you say can change it!" With that, Haruta began stomping her way towards her cabin and disappeared from view.

Marco began walking towards the helm.

"Marco, you can try but I doubt that either will give up." Jozu murmured as Marco passed by. "And this isn't really dangerous or anything."

"We'll see, yoi."

Why do I have such a bad feeling about this?

"What are you doing, yoi?" Marco went up to the rookie who was absently stroking the hilt of his sword and staring out to the open sea.

Ace turned and huffed. "Thinking. What are you, a babysitter?"

"At times. You'd be surprised how often."

Ace didn't reply.

"What are you think about, yoi?" He probed.

"Whether or not to try and kill the old geezer again."

"Seriously, yoi?"

"I think I'll wait until I fight the shrimp before I try that though."

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Hmm? Are you going to try and convince me to give up because there is no way I can win?"

"Possibly." Marco admitted.

"Then you're wasting your time." Ace said bluntly. "I don't intend to give up and I will follow through unless you convince your 'sister' to give up and admit that I'm stronger."

Marco knew he probably was, having been able to go toe to toe with a warlord. "And if you lose, yoi?"

"I'll burn that bridge when I get to it."

"I'm pretty sure that the saying is that you cross the bridge when you get to it."

Ace simply shrugged. "Burn, cross, same difference. Why do you want to stop it anyway? I've been told at least thirty times that I'm going to lose within two minutes." He added dryly.

"Call it a feeling."

"A feeling, huh?"

"Yes, yoi."

"Well, you'll see if that feeling is right soon enough." Ace gripped the hilt of his sword tightly. "I don't intend to lose, though, I said that when I challenged Whitebeard, didn't I?"

"Commander!" Someone ran up to them. "We need you in Navigation! Commander Namur asked for you!"

"Alright, yoi." Marco nodded. "I'll see you later, Ace."

With that, he left.

Ace let out a sigh.

His nerves were high strung at the moment, having to wait for news about his plan to find Sabo and being forced to act normal around the pirates so that they wouldn't get suspicious. A fight would do wonders for releasing the tension, though agreeing to it in the spur of the moment… probably (maybe) wasn't the brightest idea.

He didn't plan on losing. He was confident that he would win. (One of Whitebeard's commanders… How strong could she be? Definitely not worse than Jimbei...)

The problem was that afterwards people would most likely start paying him unneeded attention.

(You know, curiosity killed the cat).

And as for that feeling of the first commander's…

 _He's got some good instincts._

* * *

Thanks to Fancyunicorn (and everyone else) for leaving a review! In response to your question/statement (?), I do know that Haruta is indeed a boy in manga, (someone else already brought it up). I will keep her as a girl because seriously, the Whitebeard Pirates can't be all old geezers right? (except the nurses). Haruta's appearance and the fact that (s)he is pretty short (nothing wrong with being short though, but since the Whitebeards are all very very tall people, (s)he seems a lot shorter than (s)he probably is in reality) makes me imagine him/her better as a female. That might only be for me, but I like it this way…

This chapter is only about Ace and his contact with the Whitebeard crew. I know last chapter I might have dropped some hints about where this is headed and that you all might have wanted to see some more… but yeah… Sorry if I disappointed you. However, I'm not going to say that what happens here isn't important…

Also, this chapter is slightly on the short side… (I checked, there's only around 950-ish words). I think I usually try to get it around 1000 or so…

Please follow/favorite/leave a review, it really encourages me!


	8. Chapter 8

And… Chapter 8 is here!

* * *

"Land ho!" The lookout shouted from the crow's nest.

"Finally!" Fossa grumbled. "We need to restock on supplies. Do you know how much wood you need to fix a wall every single day?"

"Speak for yourself. I haven't been on land for months."

"The navigators say that we'll be staying on this island for a few weeks because they don't want to try and get to the next island during storm season."

"Yeah. I do not want to have to go through storm season again. Remember the time with the whirlpool _and_ the hailsorm?"

There was a steady stream of cheerful chatter as the pirates prepared to dock at one of their usual islands.

Haruta was standing with Thatch and a few other commanders overseeing the docking process.

Thatch shot her a mildly concerned look when he saw her fingers wrapping and unwrapping around the hilt of her blade. "You sure you want to do this? Marco seemed pretty worried."

"Ugh! One mother hen on the ship is enough, Thatch!" She shot him an annoyed look. "Why are you all so worried anyway?"

"I'm not." Thatch denied.

"Yeah." Haruta glared at him. "Totally believing you."

This caused a dramatic reaction from Thatch who started (fake) crying because his little sister didn't trust him anymore, earning him a whack in the head from Izou, who happened to be nearby and was fed up with his crazy antics (the sixteenth division happened to be one of the poor bunch to be the victims of Thatch's latest prank, which included hair dye, paint, and whipping cream).

"You know, Ace is actually pretty strong for a rookie." Thatch continued more seriously.

"But he's not as strong as me." Haruta replied confidently.

"…"

"Don't tell me you think he's a match for me?" There was a hint of disbelief in her voice.

"I don't know. Marco had _The Feeling_. The last time that happened, we almost got into a war with Big Mom and Kaido at the same time." Thatch pointed out.

"It might not be about this." Haruta pointed out. "There's been a vacant spot in the Shichibukai since Crocodile's attempt to overthrow the government in Alabasta was stopped and exposed by Straw Hat. Maybe someone new's being recruited. Or it could be about Straw Hat. His actions have been pretty wild."

"Nothing's been confirmed yet for Straw Hat. We only know he managed to sweep everyone in East Blue away but that's the weakest sea. Wasn't the Crocodile incident stopped by some marine captain?"

"It's just a marine captain, who has a practically useless logia." She scoffed. "There is no way some marine captain defeated Crocodile. He's survived the New World, challenged pops and walked away alive."

"But Straw Hat's still in Paradise. We haven't heard much about him and it'll be awhile till he gets to the New World."

"It could just be that Marco had a bad day and wants to scare us." Haruta rolled her eyes at him. "Chill out! If I knew this would have happened I would have made you fight him instead."

"What do you think of my masterpiece, by the way?" Thatch rubbed his hands together.

"Didn't you also plan to switch the fifth division's shampoo with glue?"

"Well…You see, Vista has had a pretty stressful week and I, being the considering person I am, decided to let him off."

"More like you shoved him to the wolves to cover for yourself," Haruta shot him a rather pointed glare. "Which led to Marco almost murdering him."

"And he may or may not have promised to buy me sake."

"You still have all the glue?"

"Yeah."

"It's time Marco lightened up a bit, don't you think?"

They put their heads together and began conspiring.

"Put glue in all of their shoes."

"Glue glitter to the backs of their shirts."

"No, their socks!"

"But no one would be able to see it!"

"We could put glue on their shower heads."

"Commanders!" A member of Thatch's own division approached them cautiously.

Never let it be said that Thatch wasn't a fair man. He pranked his own subordinates as much as other divisions, though it usually caused less paperwork and headaches for him than it did for other commanders because he knew what to expect to need for cleanup.

The pirate in question had no intention of discovering the commander's new evil plot. "Commander Haruta, commander Marco told me to inform you that commander Fossa refused to allow your duel to commence on the ship."

"What? But-"

"He also said that if you really wanted to fight on the ship all expenses will be paid from your allowance." The pirate then took the opportunity to run.

"Tough." Thatch laughed. "Guess you have to hold back then! Unless you want to move to fighting on land instead?"

"No way."

"I thought not."

"Since I won't be available to do it… You take over the bets, okay?"

"Am I expected to share a portion of the profits with you?"

"Why, of course."

* * *

"He's actually considering becoming a Warlord?" She muttered to herself as she made her way into the gloomy castle. "Did you get this message too?"

"I do not recall ever inviting or allowing you to step foot on this island, Pirate Empress." The man with piercing eyes drawled, swirling the glass of wine in his hand. There was a closed book next to his armchair.

"I am only doing this for the sake of my beloved's elder brother! You would do well to remember that." She replied in an arrogant manner.

"Even if Ace wanted to become a Warlord, he did refused their offer previously. His chances of being accepted by the marines are slim."

"I demand that you aid us in helping him achieve his goal!"

"Have you not yet even considered why he might want this?"

"The reason is not important so long as he is happy. Besides, he is searching for my beloved's other brother! Of course we must help!"

Mihawk flicked a piece of paper in front of the women. "Write him a reply."

"Why can't you do it?"

"Aren't you searching for an opportunity to prove your devotion to Luffy? If you don't want to, well, I have no problem doing it-"

"Give me that!" Hancock snatched the paper back. "Oh, how happy my beloved will be when he hears of this…" Her expression turned dreamy. "Who gave you permission to speak the name of my love?" She snapped, now resembling a demon.

"Ace is still awaiting a reply."

"Oh, yes! Of course!" Her eyes turned to hearts again.

* * *

So… some more interaction within the Whitebeards, a little bit of Hancock and Mihawk interaction here, and a little insight in the Whitebeard's thoughts on the Strawhat crew. It's not all boring stuff, right?

Hancock and Mihawk were really hard to write. Like really. But they're sort of necessary. How do you think I did?

If you're looking for more news on 'the search for Sabo' …yeah, that'd be a few chapters later. It's developing, though. I have a lot planned ahead. Poor Ace…

On the other hand, the Whitebeard's have docked! Which means that the 'duel' is coming up soon! What do you all think will happen? I love hearing theories!

I think I've settled upon a semi-regular (tentative) schedule of about one update every two weeks (usually on the weekends) and each update being about 1000 words in length.

This chapter was longer than the last one, by the way (1100 words or so?). I have a lot written in advance, but when I try to split it up it doesn't always work out that well, haha.

Please leave a review! I want to know your thoughts and what you think will happen!

Thank you all for the support! This story has reached over 100 follows and 80-ish favorites, so thank you all!

See you all at the next update!


	9. Chapter 9

Alright, everyone, before you all start reading the chapter, I have something very important to ask of you all.

I've been thinking (yes, I do think) about getting a beta recently because I want to increase the quality of my work. Having someone to talk to about ideas and help weed out any mistakes in grammar or punctuation would be a big help.

I've never had a beta before, so I don't know how this works, but I guess if anyone is interested please pm me or something and we can work something out; I don't think I need more than 2 betas? Like i said, never had any experience with this before and I've done okay on my own until now but it would be great if someone is willing. If anyone can explain how it works it would be a big help.

This will be a commitment of sorts (just so you know). You'll probably need to read through my horrible writing and scream at me not to use run on sentences a few dozen times… Just putting it out there. If you don't want to, I wouldn't blame any of you.

On the other hand, have any of you heard the global climate strike that happened today? From what I saw last, around one million people, many of them children all around the world have been protesting today, March 15, for world leaders to start doing something to stop global warming. The warning signs are already there. Climate change isn't a small issue anymore. I think that Greta Thunberg and anyone else who speaks up are pretty courageous to be doing so, and this is the wake up call the rest of the world needs, because pretty soon it won't just be polar bears in danger of extinction, but humans (us!), too.

Enough of my blabbing… Enjoy!

* * *

"Isn't it strange," Ace mused, smirking. "that I've been told a total of thirty nine times, and counting, by your crewmates that I stand no chance of defeating you. Isn't that quite a show of confidence? Yet it's still your fellow commanders that are asking if you want to quit."

Haruta snorted. "They're being idiots. I take no part in it."

"I truly doubt that the first mate of the Whitebeard Pirates is an idiot."

"You have no idea." She rolled her eyes. "They are so immature, and childish, and annoying, and…"

"That's also quite the ironic statement, seeing as you are one of the youngest, not to mention the shortest in the crew…"

"I'm not!" Haruta looked annoyed at the somewhat underhand jab of the rookie's.

In reality, most of the Whitebeards were taller (and bulkier) than the brat just like they were taller (and much bulkier) than Haruta.

And so what if he might just be a teeny bit taller (it's only a few centimeters difference, really). So he had no right to comment that she was short!

"So who's the youngest then?" Ace raised an eyebrow.

Haruta had a look of triumph on her face. "You, of course! I'm way older than you."

"I never officially agreed to joining your crew, so I don't count."

"Well, you will be joining sooner or later so in the end you'll still be the youngest."

"We shall see." Ace stated. "By the way, I heard that one of the commanders objected to us dueling on the ship."

"Don't worry about it." Haruta said carelessly.

"I heard something along the lines of you're responsible to pay for whatever damage is caused, which includes supplies and extra for wasting our time… are you really that confident that I won't 'accidentally' destroy a few walls?"

"As if! Almost all of the ship is made of Adam's wood." Except the railings. And some walls. Oh, and don't forget the bow… Haruta began to sweat, suddenly remembering all of the hasty repairs for damage caused by Ace's daily assassination attempts.

"Still crumbles pretty easily when your captain 'accidentally' sends me flying into it." Ace mentioned casually.

Haruta now had a thinking face on. Maybe we could fight on the island, it'll be easier for people to see and less chance of collateral damages...

"But since you don't mind paying for whatever damage we might cause I guess it's fine to spar on the ship. I'll see you in three hours, then." And he promptly took his cue to disappear.

"….YOU! GET BACK HERE!"

* * *

There was clear tension in the air.

Then-

"Who leaked the information?" The voice of the World's Most Wanted Man was normally calm and collected, but this time he sounded absolutely furious.

"I've got some people investigating that right now." The man stood his ground. "We've done a head count and we are currently missing a few people but we can't be sure if they ran or are away for legitimate reasons. That'll take a bit longer to figure out."

"Guess the plan of protecting his identity is straight out the window." Dragon sat down, casually taking a sip of his tea, all signs of previous anger vanished.

The man sighed, already too used to his leader's antics. He would ask just why he acted like he had a multiple personality disorder when he clearly did not (they had sent him to a physiatrist to check) but his reply would be-

"What's the use of worrying about something that's already happened? It's not like we can change anything, so just relax! If you worry too much you'll get gray hairs, you know."

And then he'd sip his tea some more and proceed to disappear somewhere.

Without telling anyone.

It was a mystery how he had managed to create this whole army opposing the World Government with such a laidback attitude.

"Sabo is already seventeen, and he's more than capable of protecting himself. Besides, he is our Chief of Staff. The marines will find out about him sooner or later. They don't have any information confirmed anything yet and Sabo's youth might confuse them into thinking this is some sort of trick. This is something that might be able to help us." His mind was now moving at the speed of light.

"I'll leave the strategizing to you." Dragon grunted. "I've heard that's here been some trouble in East Blue recently."

"It's been taken care of. On the other hand, one of our contacts in the marines have told us something quite… strange. Apparently, Ivankov and Inazuma have… somehow disappeared from their cells in Impel Down."

Dragon laughed. "No need to worry about that. Now, tell me, how is the team in Paradise doing?"

* * *

There was a steady buzz on the deck of the Moby and plenty of men were gathered on deck. Normally, most of them would have been scattered across the island, but everyone had heard about the duel taking place later and they were staying at this particular island for almost a week to repair the Moby.

That meant there was plenty to time to relax on the island and spend their money getting wasted, and as I mentioned before, pirates were notorious not simply for pillaging and killing, but for gossiping.

It didn't matter the topic, so long as someone would listen, a pirate could go on for hours and hours and hours. Some particularly arrogant pirates were also indulgent with bragging about their accomplishments, their relationships, their bounty, everything.

Not to mention this fight was important.

This was about their pride, and a pirate's pride was worn on their sleeves.

Clusters of men were gathered around their regular haunts throughout the deck.

They were pirates, and understandably a bit rowdy at times (the amount of noise they were capable of making at parties was deafening). Having docked at an island (the first in two months) served to raise all of their spirits and they often became boisterous but everyone was on their 'best behavior' because no one wanted to agitate Marco more than necessary.

The noise level at the moment could be described (by pirates) as a pleasant buzz as they all looked forward to some action, preferably their commander beating the arrogant rookie into the ground.

Ace was undisturbed by the noise and the large number of people milling around.

The duel wasn't due to start for another three hours or so and by that time they would be bored, hungry for action, and much, much louder.

At the moment, only around a quarter of the crew seemed to be around the ship included those that had to stay on board and guard the ship.

The rest were still all over the island, in bars, shops, establishments, restaurants and god knows where else.

Ace knew that more would show up later because none of the wanted to miss this entertainment.

I really should have been more discreet. I'm planning on leaving soon and now they'll remember too much. So… Lose?

His entire being showed an revolted attitude towards that tiny idea. He never backed down from a fight, dammit! He wasn't going to do anything but beat the crap out of the commander who had way too much attitude to fit in such a tiny frame.

After that, he calmed down considerably.

There was still five minutes to lunch… He was so hungry… If he just snuck a small snack from the kitchens… No one would mind, right?

* * *

So, what did you all think? Like it? Hate it?

There is more interaction between Ace and the Whitebeards, a little bit of Dragon and his revs.

I do seem to be dragging out that duel a lot…

But anyway, some important info has been revealed!

(If you didn't catch it go back and read again).

Or I'll just tell you…

Dragon previously wanted to keep the information about his new chief of staff all hush hush, but it was leaked mysteriously. This explains how Garp knew, which he eventually passed on to Ace. Ace is trying his best to track down his only lead on the Revolutionaries: the 2 captured revolutionary commanders in Impel Down. However, they have disappeared from their cells! It is implied that Dragon somehow helped them go 'poof.' Poor, poor Ace has no idea!

(Are any of you willing to risk a guess on what my grand plan is now? I think I've given a lot of hints already).

If not… *hangs head.* Next chapter it'll be clearer. I hope.

Thank you for all the favorites, follows and to Sweetsnakes for being the only person to review for last chapter!

To Sweetsnakes: Thank you for that, and I do hope I'll be able to stick to my schedule of 1 chapter every 2 weeks. For now, it seems fine, and I have a lot written ahead. I am enjoying writing this a lot more than ASL Adventures because there an actual plot I can follow and I've pretty much even have an idea planned out the ending. As for Hancock and Mihawk, you'll be seeing them again very soon (winks)!

I think I might try and respond to reviews from now on like this, if you guys want me to.

Please leave a review, and I'll see you all in the next chapter!

P.S. a reminder that I'm looking for a beta, if you're interested, pm me or something, and if you haven't, make sure to read the AN above the chapter.


	10. Chapter 10

Hello, everyone! Chapter 10 is here!

Special thanks to Kippysaurus, and Aconight for proofreading this chapter!

* * *

"What the hell are you doing? Stop!"

"I can't control my body!" the marine shouted as he started to strangle his comrade.

The other man began struggling. "This is hardly the time for jokes! What do you mean you can't control your body?"

"I'm not doing this! Something is making me move!"

"Fufufufu! Yes! Fight! Fight to the death!"

Maniacal laughter was heard from the man dressed in a ridiculously pink feather coat.

"Doflamingo! Curse you!" the marine cried as he blocked another swing from his comrade.

This is when Sengoku chose to walk in.

"Please sit down, and release the officer, Doflamingo." he sighed tiredly. "We are going to begin the meeting shortly. Unless, of course, you're here to pick a fight."

"Whatever you have to say, hurry up and say it. I am only here because 'liberating' islands has been quite boring of late." he drawled, as his fingers twitched and the panicked screams in the background intensified. Both Marines had now drawn their weapons.

Unsurprisingly, 'Tyrant' Kuma was the only other Shichibukai who had bothered to show up. He was holding his Bible and calmly looking out the window, seemingly uncaring about everything else going on.

"Very well. Seeing that the others are rather unlikely to make an appearance-"

Suddenly, the entire room fell silent as its occupants heard measured footsteps approaching the room.

Mihawk scanned the room with bored eyes as he entered and sat in one of the unoccupied seats around the table.

"Fufufufu! So you actually showed up, Hawkeye!" Doflamingo laughed. "Are you simply here to kill time? Or perhaps today's topic has caught your interest?"

"It is none of your concern."

"Fleet Admiral!" A petty officer ran in, not bothering to salute. "Fleet Admiral! Please help! It's Boa Hancock! She's turning everyone to-"

"Slave Arrow!"

Suddenly, an arrow struck one of the marines in the room, turning him to stone.

"-stone." the petty officer squeaked out, clearly terrified.

"Spineless fools!" Boa Hancock promptly entered and slipped into her signature pose. "How dare you block my way?!"

"She's looking down at us so much that she's looking up… But she's hot..." A marine's eyes turned to hearts.

"So the she-demon actually bothered to show up for once." Sengoku muttered. "Boa Hancock, please turn the marines back and sit down. We are starting the meeting soon."

"How dare you order me around? You should be thankful that I bothered to come to this disgusting meeting, arrogant man!" Then her personality did a complete 180 . She sighed dreamily. "It is a small sacrifice to help my dearest future brother-in-law!"

"Boa Hancock, with all due respect, please turn all of the marine officers back to normal and take your seat so that the meeting may start." an officer said in a pacifying manner.

"You mean I need to do what you say?"

"N-no! Not at all! Turn all of the marines in the building to stone!" Blood began to gush out of the marine's nose, staining his pristine uniform.

Tsuru whacked the officer on the head and dragged him out of the room. All the other marines filed out quickly, leaving the Fleet Admiral alone with the present Warlords. Even the statues had been carefully dragged out.

Hancock flipped her hair and sat down across from Doflamingo.

"I'm sure we all have other things to get to so I will not make this very long. Since the defeat of Crocodile and your refusal of Strawhat as a potential replacement, there has been a vacant spot in the Seven Warlords and nobody competent enough has shown a desire to take the spot." Sengoku folded his arms. "Until now, that is."

No one looked particularly surprised.

Kuma didn't do anything more than twitch. His Bible lay closed in his arms and he continued to stare out the window.

Mihawk still had the same stoic face he had walked in with.

Doflamingo started laughing maniacally. "Fufufufufu! Finally!"

Hancock scoffed.

"Well? Who is it?" Doflamingo grinned, leaning forward.

"This was someone we have approached in the past. Who refused."

He had been expecting some conversations to pop up. Well… Yeah. Fat chance. He had forgotten they weren't exactly fond of each other.

"Now, this pirate has approached us and asked for the spot. The Gorosei have already given their approval; now I would like to ask for your opinions."

"Just tell us who it is." Mihawk sounded bored.

"The super rookie who entered the New World three months ago, fought Jimbei and challenged Whitebeard, Fire Fist Portgas D. Ace."

Never let it be known that Sengoku wasn't dramatic. All leaders were, in a sense.

They had to be.

It was, most of the time, through their charm and the way they each appealed to their soldiers that made them accept them as their leader.

A leader is only one when he has the support of people who work under him, people that are willing to die for him, and by his orders.

Sengoku had a long day and he had really been looking to seeing the surprise on their faces. But it just wasn't showing up.

"Powerful or not, he can still be considered a rookie. A rather hot headed one, going by the rumors." Kuma rumbled at last. "We would be more hurt than helped. He is still not ready for such responsibility."

"Fufufufu! I say we let him." A slightly demented smile revealed itself; it was one that would probably send little children screaming to their mothers if they ever had the misfortune to see it, but none of the people present batted an eye. "All rookies are arrogant, and now that he has been put into his place by Whitebeard, he seeks to rise in other ways. It would be delightfully interesting to see what he is capable of."

Boa Hancock appeared to be lost in a daydream. Sengoku decided (correctly) to ignore her.

"I have no objections." Mihawk stated.

"Very well, then. In that case-" Sengoku started, eager to get this over with and shove the dangerous, dangerous pirates well away from his precious base before they harmed it. It cost enough of his budget to fix it after his own comrades (cough Garp cough) damaged it!

"Ah, please excuse my interruption."

* * *

So, hopefully things were cleared up!

Ace's 'grand plan' is revealed to be that he plans on becoming a Warlord, and he has contacted the Marines already!

What do you all think about that? I know some of you might think the WG would never accept Ace back as a Warlord, but right now they're in dire need of one, plus they covered the whole situation up. Also, they could spin it in a way that favors them. They're good at that.

Revealing this also mean that more possibilities open up! Things are about to get much more exciting!

Reviews responses:

RRon2k: yep! Haruta is small indeed, and in my perspective, gets lots of teasing about it seeing as everyone else is huge. Her fighting style will probably be best suited to use her speed and agility.

Naliyu: Thank you for the encouragement! I did find my betas, and this chapter has been proofread!

The Keeper of Worlds: thank you for your review! This is only 10 chapters long right now, but I have some big plans for it in the future!

Helenvoid: haha, I'm looking forward to writing the reactions of people when they find out Ace, Sabo and Luffy are related, too! Ace and Luffy's connection, however, is already known by Garp, probably Sengoku and Shanks, but absolutely no one knows about Sabo except Garp, and Dadan, and Makino, but they're still in East Blue, so no worries!

SunsetDawn420: I actually didn't expect a review because usually no one bothers to write one except for the first few days after I post a chapter, so it was great to see yours! Yeah, I know, politicians and adults are so annoying sometimes, with the whole 'you're still too young to understand we are doing things for your good' speech, but seriously? Ugh. I definitely am old enough to understand the situation, thank you very much! Anyways, thank you for your support!

That's it, I believe.

That's 5 reviews in response to one chapter. That's good! Definitely getting better (remembers the lone review from the last chapter…).

Thank you for all the reviews, favorites and follows! We're almost at 150 follows and passed the 100 mark for favorites!

See you all in the next update!


	11. Chapter 11

To think it's been another two weeks... Time flies.

Credit goes to Aconight, kippysaurus, and Akatsuki-Metal for proofreading this chapter. It was a pretty big mess when it was first written. You guys did a lot of work polishing it up. Thank you!

Since I already have 3 wonderful betas, I don't require any more, so… I'm no longer looking for more. Sorry if this disappoints any of you.

(Also, don't be fooled. Just because this chapter is around 2k words, only 1,200 or so is actual content. Sorry, but my chapters will always be around this length. I'll try to make up for that with consistent updates).

And, start the long awaited chapter 11!

* * *

Ace was devouring his rather large serving of curry rice while letting his mind flicker around the room to listen to the juicy gossip of that day.

The conversations weren't boring, per se, but there was only so many times he could be an eager and rapt listener of a conversation describing how he would probably stand his ground for something along the lines of two minutes before being blown into the ocean, or something just as ridiculous.

Ace was getting annoyed enough to consider turning off his observation Haki for a few minutes, so he could keep his mind blissfully blank-

At least, until he caught a few words that piqued his interest.

"What do you plan on doing, hmm?" Izou.

"Let it run its course, yoi."

"So you've finally given up on stopping the inevitable?" There was a mix of amusement and fondness in his voice. "How has that feeling of yours been doing?" His tone was quite serious now because the sixth sense of an experienced pirate was not something to be ignored. Many times, their very survival depended on it.

"It's like an annoying itch that won't go away no matter how often you scratch it."

"You can get an itch? And your birdy powers won't cure it?" Thatch sat down at the commanders' table, which was mostly unoccupied. "Where's Haruta? Why are you guys and Namur the only ones here?"

"Cut it out, yoi."

Thatch diligently ignored Marco's annoyed comment.

"Haruta wanted to go and train." Namur informed him gravely. "Fossa and Curiel went along to make sure she didn't made any more holes. Also, the deadline for paperwork is tonight."

"That would explain it… Wait, tonight?!" Thatch started freaking out. "Last I checked it was still days away! Days!"

Izou rolled his eyes. "I helped you with half of it. You should have finished by now."

Thatch picked up his tray. "Bye!"

"He insists on doing this every time." Izou commented dryly, as he pictured Thatch shoving food into his mouth while scrambling for his pen.

"How strong do you think Fire Fist is, yoi?"

"Why the sudden question?" Izou smiled.

"I am pretty sure that my instincts are murdering me right now because of this 'duel' Vista thought was appropriate."

"I sincerely doubt it was Vista's idea."

"I recall you giving Vista a heart attack by reprimanding him on his judgement, yoi."

"You have a very strong memory, Marco." Izou smiled sharply. "Naturally, Vista made an severe error in judgement when he let himself be tricked by Thatch and Curiel into this whole mess. Besides, I never get to pull the parent tone on him. His reaction was delightful."

Marco made yet another mental note never to cross his brother.

"As for Portgas… He is a super rookie from East Blue who made it to the New World without much trouble. He received an invitation to join the Shichibukai and has apparent connections to the marines. Portgas even fought Jinbei to a tie, then got up and fought Pops. He's already been on this ship for a little over a month, but he's never stopped his assassination attempts. I'd go as far as to say that his determination has yet to start to wane."

Marco waited.

"He's an enigma." Izou snapped his fingers. "From how mysterious the kid's being, he probably has a whole drawerful of secrets he has yet to share with us."

Ace tuned out of the conversation then. It was flattering that Izou had complimented him, he supposed.

Still, he needed to make mental preparations for the duel.

He was positively itching for that fight now.

* * *

"Ah, please excuse my interruption. I happened to overhear your fascinating conversation, and if you'd allow, I'd like to join in."

Once again, Sengoku (secretly) marveled over the fact that no one in the room did more than blink in surprise at the newcomer.

"I would like to recommend another option for the Warlord position." He smirked and tipped his hat at Sengoku. "I believe that you aren't very eager to have to re-invite someone who refused you in the past. Honestly, it would be quite an embarrassment to even have to consider it."

Boa Hancock had left her dream state and was glaring at the newcomer.

"Who are you?" Boa Hancock hissed.

The man smirked. "Lafitte, at your service, my lady."

Hancock reared back in disgust at his look. "I am not your anything."

"Fufufufufu! And who might you think will be a good candidate?" Doflamingo was quite interested at this new development.

"Why, my Captain, of course. Blackbeard." he stated. "You might not have heard of us yet, but I believe that you soon will. Please, remember that name."

He paused a moment, waiting to see if there would be any notable reactions.

Hancock glared at him venomously.

"I think you'd find us more qualified and better allies than anyone else." he added pleasantly to Sengoku, seeming to ooze confidence.

Instantly, Sengoku decided that he did not like the man at all.

With that short little speech, he disappeared as quickly as he came, leaving no sign that he had been there at all.

There was a moment of silence.

"We don't have the time to wait anymore. The position has been vacant for too long." Sengoku adjusted his glasses. "Fire Fist wants the position. We need someone to fill in the spot Crocodile vacated as quickly as possible." He felt another headache coming up.

Just when they decide to give Fire Fist the spot, some random person shows up and nominates a person that has yet to appear! Not to mention that he had slipped in through all of the security in Marineford… That was worrying.

"This 'Blackbeard' may not be just another rookie blowing hot air. His crewmate did manage to enter Marineford, and leave, without raising alarms." Kuma pointed out.

"Tch. That only shows how weak and disgusting you men really are. To allow someone to penetrate into your headquarters like that… Shameful."

"Is there something you would like to say, Boa Hancock?"

"The vote has been decided." She said, flipping her hair.

"Crocodile joined the Shichibukai after getting defeated by Whitebeard." Hawkeye commented.

"Fire Fist will have to do." Sengoku agreed. Finally, they could get all of these unsavory criminals out of Marineford. "That concludes this meeting."

* * *

"What is that?"

"It doesn't look like the news coo," a pirate commented doubtfully.

"The news coo already came in the morning, idiot! It's not time for the news coo to come."

"Then what is that?"

"Looks like a flying black blob to me," a nearsighted pirate said.

"Thanks, Captain Obvious."

"It's getting closer."

"Commander Thatch!" A crewmember waved frantically. "There's a flying black blob coming straight for us!"

"Huh? A flying black blob?" he asked in confusion.

"Owwww!"

"It has very sharp claws, too!"

"It's a bat!"

"Stay away from me! Don't suck my blood!"

"It's not a vampire, idiot!" The same person that told the lookout off for thinking it might be a news coo hit the panicking pirate on the head. Unfortunately, this did more harm than good.

"We've been attacked by vampires! Help!"

"Don't suck my blood! I don't taste good at all!"

"How would you know that?"

"Shut up already, morons!"

* * *

 **A/N:**

I think that this chapter is one of my better ones, seeing as there have been so many things spoiled!

For one, Ace has Haki. So you can imagine how strong he is now (obviously not stronger than Whitebeard, but he's the strongest man in the world).

Also, I'm still dragging the duel on.

Ace has officially been accepted as a Warlord, so this means he'll have to leave the Whitebeard's soon. Doesn't mean we'll stop hearing from them, though. Have no worries.

Review Replies:

To…

WhiteyWolf26: You had a lot of great questions, but unfortunately I can't give you an answer to all of them yet. Well, you do know that the WG accepted Ace as a Warlord despite Blackbeard sending Lafitte (I think that's how it's spelled?), and this might not make sense to you at first but Blackbeard is still Teach on Whitebeard's crew and no one knows he exists so Sengoku as no choice but to take Ace. Also, well, the marines don't want Ace to join Whitebeard. So the race for the position is nonexistent. I never thought about it (cries in the corner). Also, in one way or another, your questions will be answered in the next chapter, so you just have to wait another 2 weeks! In addition, thank you for the suggestion! :)

Guest: (btw, next time someone leaves a review as a guest, it would be convenient if you left a nickname or something that I can address you by) In response to your question, of course Lafitte's appearance will have effects, but no, there is no dispute seeing as Blackbeard is completely unknown. Therefore, the Warlord position is all Ace's (I totally considered this idea and rejected it, totally). Thanks for the idea, though I can't use it since Teach is still masquerading as a Whitebeard.

Lastly, to yuzukikuran476:

April 10-

7:10- Me waking up.

7:20- Me eating breakfast.

7:40- Me looking at my notifications, and celebrating because I received a review.

7:41- Me checking my reviews.

7:43- Me rubbing my eyes and thinking I'm still dreaming.

…

I have never gotten so many reviews in a row from a single person before. Like, seriously. It's really, really surprising that someone will go out of their way to leave a review for every single chapter when it would be much more convenient to just leave one. THANK YOU!

This is going to be long… So

I'm really glad you like this! My updating schedule is once every two weeks. I know it's a long time to wait for about 1k words, but I don't write that fast, get random bursts of writer's block and I'm basically coasting on what I've already written. Yeah. But I'll try to maintain this schedule. Also, I do plan on keeping Luffy, Thatch and (most likely) Ace alive in this. Whitebeard… well, he is getting old. Not that sure about what should happen to him.

To the questions you had

In chapter 3: Ace is the brother-in-law. The person writing the letter is Hancock, we wants to marry Luffy.

chapter 5: Luffy and his crew are somewhere in the middle of their adventures.

Chapter 8: well, Ace wants to find the people in Revolutionary Army asap, and since they're so elusive, there's really not many options. So Impel Down it is.

Well. That was longer than I thought it would be. I suppose it's pretty depressing that the A/N is almost half the length of the actual chapter. I have to start cutting down the amount of words I write in response to the reviews.

My sincerest gratitude to every person who has read, favorited, followed, reviewed this fanfiction!

Please, continue to review! I'm interested in hearing what you have to say!


	12. Chapter 12

Hey guys!

Thank you, Kippysaurus, Aconight and Akatsuki-Metal for proofreading this chapter!

I'll just start the chapter and blab later on...

Please, take a moment to read the A/N on the bottom before you all try to strangle me...

* * *

Ace was lounging on a quiet part of the deck when a black… creature (?) came flying. "Is that edible?" he mused.

The creature, which Ace recognized to be a bat, landed near him and showed him a package with an envelope. The symbols of the World Government and the Marines were embossed on the paper.

Ace sucked in a breath. "Finally…" He tore open the note eagerly.

 _Fire Fist Ace. You have been invited to join the Seven Warlords of the Sea. This is a great honor and achievement that all pirates seek to earn…_

Ace snorted. Yeah. Totally. Whitebeard was interested in becoming part of the Shichibukai, too.

He skipped over the long paragraph about what an honor it was, blah blah blah.

When he got to the part about rewards, he made a mental note to read it later, because now he needed to move, and fast.

 _If you are interested in claiming this position, we ask that you arrive at Marineford within three weeks. An eternal pose has been attached. Should you fail to appear within the given time limit, this invitation will be declared null and void._

 _The World Government_

That was not a lot of time to work with.

Not at all.

* * *

"It was not a vampire. It was a _bat_! The tiny thing was _flying_! How could it have been a vampire? They don't even exist outside of children's horror stories!"

"It had sharp claws!" the unfortunate man who had several bandaged scratches on his arm complained.

"Exactly!" the man exclaimed. "Vampires have fangs! Not claws!"

"Maybe they have claws too. We've never seen one."

"Looked like one of the World Government's carrier bats, too."

"But why would it come here?"

"Maybe they want to 'negotiate' with Pops again."

"Hah!"

* * *

Ace knocked on the massive door to the Captain's Quarters.

"We need to have a talk, old man."

* * *

Half an hour later, the entire Spade crew was gathered in the previously empty mess hall, lunch having ended an hour ago.

The first commander had graciously helped Ace locate his old crewmates and then left them alone, without staying and attempting to eavesdrop. Hell, the man didn't even ask questions.

"I know this is very sudden, but you all have one hour to decide to stay or leave." Ace declared.

"What?"

"You all have one-"

"Explain, idiot! Don't just repeat what you just said!" Banshee scowled at him. If he had been closer, she probably would've hit him over the head with whatever she was carrying; at the moment, it was a newspaper.

"Something important has come up. I'm not going to stay here anymore and waste time. It's not like I could defeat Whitebeard anyway." he said dismissively.

"Who are you, and what have you done with Ace?"

"Very funny, Dusty." He shot him a glare. "I've asked Whitebeard already. Anyone who wants to stay can join their crew. I'm warning you all, staying is a much safer option. Those that decide to leave will set sail with me immediately for Marineford."

"..."

"Come again?" Masked Deuce asked faintly.

"What do you mean, MARINEFORD?!"

* * *

"Haruta."

"Marco! Where were you? I've been looking for you everywhere! And I can't find Fire Fist, either!" she blabbed frantically.

"Calm down, yoi." His tone allowed no room for argument.

"Marco?" Thatch asked tentatively.

"Portgas called off the duel." Marco said bluntly. "I spent the last thirty minutes gathering up all the former Spade pirates. They're in the mess hall now. Don't ask me why, I don't know, yoi."

"..."

"HE CALLED IT OFF?!"

"The Spade pirates? Hmmm, how interesting." Izou commented.

"He can't just call it off!" Haruta continued ranting. "Is he that much of a _coward_ that he decides to _call it off_ right before the duel?"

"Haruta, calm down." Curiel said timidly.

Vista and Thatch were both frowning.

"It is dishonorable to agree and then back off." Vista murmured. "This isn't even about winning or losing, it's about _pride_."

"It isn't like him at all, though." Thatch argued. "Ace fights Pops on a daily basis, he won't just give up because he's afraid of losing to you or something like that."

Haruta was long gone by this point, having stormed off to go hunt down her prey.

"Mess hall, you said?" Thatch asked distractedly, making a beeline for the shortest route to the mess hall.

* * *

"Shichibukai?"

"Are you serious, Captain?" Saber whispered.

"Completely."

"I know this probably isn't the time but, Captain, you hate the Marines. So why?" Barry asked quietly.

"I will tell everyone who decides to leave." Ace stated firmly. "That information is not be divulged to anyone else under any circumstances, unless it's with my permission."

"I… understood." He nodded in acceptance.

"I want to thank all of you for sailing with me. For accepting me as your captain even though I've put you guys through a lot. It doesn't matter your choice here, we are and always will be connected by what we experienced together. I don't want any of you to stay because you feel obligated to. I don't want you to have any regrets." Ace finished.

"..."

"I know this is a very big decision to make." Ace got up. "I will leave you guys to think but I need your answers in forty five minutes."

"Captain, where the hell are you going?" Cornelia demanded.

"Uh… out?"

"Ace, you are our captain and we're your crew. None of us are going to stay behind. You chose us, but we chose you too. Wherever you take us, we'll follow." Dusty said confidently.

Every single Spade pirate was nodding in agreement.

"Captain, you didn't really think we'll leave you, right?"

"We'll follow you anywhere, captain!"

"I became a pirate because of you. The only way you're going to get us to leave you is to disband the crew!"

"Let's go to Marineford, Ace!"

* * *

 **A/N:**

(speaking while hiding behind a table)

I CAN EXPLAIN! AND DID I MENTION I ALREADY SURRENDERED! DON'T SHOOT!

I didn't mean to get you all so excited and then leave you hanging. It was supposed to be a tiny thing! I may or may not have gotten slightly carried away! (Yep! That's never happened before!)

The reason I didn't write the duel because I have never in my life ever written a fight scene. What does that mean?

It'll be really really really really really really really really really really bad.

Wouldn't you rather prefer a good one even though you have to wait a few (years) days for it?

Also, the fact that Ace doesn't have the duel is very, very important. It has to do with the evil Blackbeard! (well, maybe a little).

Forgive me?

It's going to happen, not worries! I even know where I'm going to squeeze it in! It's going to be awesome!

In this chapter, Ace has finally received an invitation to the Warlords! Cheers, Ace!

About the eternal pose, well, they have to find Marineford, right? Besides, its _Marineford._ It doesn't matter if a pirate had an eternal pose to it because it's like chucking a rotting apple at a steel wall. What happens? The apple loses. At least that's what the marines think :).

Haruta also looks pretty mad at him… (about as mad as you all?) She decides to go and throttle him. In the next chapter, I think you'll be seeing how that goes.

Oh, and did I mention just how little self-confidence he has in himself? He thought his crew was going to abandon him!

Reviews, reviews, reviews floating around everywhere… won't that be nice?

So… Hi!

-Guest: umm... So, I have two ways of interpreting your suggestion because I don't really understand what you're trying to tell me to do… so, by '"Hopefully you make luffy remember too...soon," I interpret as you want Sabo to remember his brothers soon (not gonna happen, not gonna happen), it might take a bit of time, because that's a key factor of the story and I'm not giving it up easily! Or you can mean you want Luffy to know about how Sabo is potential alive… That'd be interesting. But then Ace would have to go and find Luffy… (get my hint? Please?) I heard Thriller Bark is a nice place for vacation this time of the year. Hope you got your answers! If not, feel free to ask again!

-Yuzukikuran476: I aim to please. *bows*

-The Keeper of Worlds: Yep. We're definitely going to see more of Blackbeard and his merry band of vagabonds. And a little humor goes a long way, I suppose. When I was writing the end of the last chapter, I had a little fun with that. Though it was a little surprising no one picked up on why the bat was there… Well, it was revealed in this chapter anyway.

That's it for toda-

"No it isn't, you idiot!"

"Shhhhh!"

"Answer to all of your reviews, dammit!"

Lastly, to:

-WhiteyWolf26: Er… so I know you (and others) were really interested in this upcoming 'duel' so nowI'mpanicking- I can explain! As I mentioned before, I have quite a few chapters written ahead, so I already have lots of stuff planned ahead. One of these things that's actually quite significant will be the fact that Ace doesn't fight Haruta. At least not now. Therefore, even if I wasn't too lazy to change some things, I refuse to recreate around 7 chapters… and the whole plot on general. Plus my reasons are legit, right? However, I assure you, it's gonna happen! I've been brainstorming about ideas for the fight (thanks, Aconight!) and it will happen when? When Ace and the Whitebeards meet again. And yeah, things are going to get rough for Ace soon. Not that soon, but soon. Or maybe not.

-VisitorNo.18: (You got it all wrong! I totally didn't try and avoid this! I'm innocent!) It was actually your review that got me a bit (more) nervous. I didn't think this duel would be so popular… To be honest, I never planned on the duel happening. See the "-ed" behind plan? That means it's in the past! I'm going to write that duel, and it's going to be epic. But not now, because it's also a very important part of the plot. When Ace and the Whitebeards meet again, you'll know it's time. Your observation about how I can create original moves for Haruta is something I didn't think of! It'll be so fun!

Now, that's the actual end of the review responses.

I'm beginning to see a pattern in who reviews all the time. Thank you for these reviews, and for all the ones you all posted before it. I really appreciate it!

I'm noticing that I have 30-something reviews now, which means we're getting closer to 50. That's a really big, round, nice number, isn't it? It would be really nice if somehow my fanfiction miraculously got 50 reviews…

Maybe I could post a chapter a week early if that happened… but that's never going to happen, so I'll just stick to the snail-ish pace I set myself… Yeah, that sounds pretty nice and relaxing…

****A quick question, to all of you: is there anyway to get from the New World to Paradise without going through Fishman Island again? I think that people should be able to sail into the Calm Belt to do that, right? **** (eh, it doesn't really matter if I'm wrong because it's already set in stone)

Until next time...

(Just review already!)


	13. Chapter 13

HI, everyone!

Thank you to Kippysaurus, Aconight and Akatsuki-Metal for proofreading this chapter.

* * *

"You!" Haruta barged into the mess hall, startling several Spade pirates. She pointed at Ace. "Fight me fairly, you coward!"

Masked Deuce slid in front of her. "Commander Haruta, I suggest you calm down."

"Don't tell me to calm down!"

"Deuce."

He turned. "Yes, Captain?"

"The _Piece of Spadille_ should be stored near the landing dock. Can you take everyone to get their stuff and prepare to set sail?"

Deuce knew full well that Ace didn't want him or anyone else here. So he nodded and exited the room with a single look at his crewmates, the Spade pirates filing out after him.

Dusty, the last to leave, shot Ace a concerned look before shutting the door behind him.

There was a moment of silence.

"I'm not going to fight you." Ace told Haruta bluntly.

"And why might that be?"

"There isn't enough time."

Haruta snorted in disdain. "You agreed. I agreed. Going back on your word like that… Only scum do that."

"Think whatever you'd like."

After seeing that Ace wasn't getting riled up, Haruta clenched her teeth. "You don't deserve to be called a swordsman." she growled out. "Swordsmen have honor."

Ace didn't reply. He started walking towards the exit.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"My crew is waiting." he answered very quietly, and turned around to face her. "I'm aware that agreeing and going back on my word like this is not something that I should have done. I am sorry for that."

"I don't want any of your damn apologies!" Haruta roared, a Haki coated fist slamming down on Ace's face, causing him to stumble back. She was even more enraged to discover that Ace wasn't fighting back. "Fight me!"

"No."

Haruta stopped. "Despicable liar." she spat.

Ace's hand landed on the doorknob. "I won't forget. I owe you a fight and I'll deliver the next time we meet." With that, he was striding down the hall and brushing past a stunned Thatch, toward the direction of the deck.

"Hey, Haruta." Thatch said gently as he walked into the mess hall. He carefully pried her fingers off the handle of her blade.

"Why?" Haruta whispered, sinking to the floor. "Why does everyone lie to me?"

* * *

" _I-I'll go back! I'll be everything you want me to be. I'll marry a rich girl! J-just let them go. They're my precious_ brothers _!"_

" _What? Sabo, no!"_

" _Please, Sabo! Come back!"_

* * *

" _Hey, Ace! Look at what I found!"_

" _A… map?"_

" _Yeah! When we're pirates, I want to go see everything this world has to offer! Not just East Blue, but North Blue, West Blue, South Blue, the Grand Line, the Calm Belt, everything!" Sabo pointed excitedly to each location as he listed them._

" _Wow. That's a lot of places."_

" _Then I'll write a book about all of our adventures!"_

* * *

" _Look, this is an A."_

" _So it's basically a triangle?"_

" _No! Look, this is a triangle. This is the letter 'A.'"_

" _Looks the same to me." he commented dubiously._

" _Just write it my way. This is B."_

" _How is this supposed to be useful again?"_

" _You want to be able to read your own Wanted poster, right?"_

" _Then just teach me my name! I know numbers."_

" _Reading and writing is important! Just be patient. You do want to be able to read about Luffy in the newspaper, right?"_

" _Fine."_

* * *

" _What?!"_

" _That blasted Noble… He shot down Sabo's boat!"_

" _You're lying! Shut up!"_

" _I saw it with my own eyes! Sabo's dead!"_

 _But… What about the adventures you were going to go on, Sabo? The book? You can't be dead. They're lying!_

* * *

"Captain." Deuce was starting to get worried about Ace.

He hadn't spoken a single word since they had left the Whitebeards, who had mutely watched them go, and set sail on their own ship.

"We're headed to the Calm Belt. Dusty says he can get us through fast enough. It would be helpful if you could tame a Sea King to pull us. We can't take the Fishman Island route because it's not certain if we can find a reliable coating mechanic quickly. Besides, you did attack Jimbei. "

"Okay." Ace nodded.

"It's good that Mihar insisted we get our ship coated with seastone." he added.

"Yeah." Ace said softly.

"Dusty says that he thinks it'd be best if you were on deck, just in case too many Sea Kings notice us."

"Alright." Ace turned and placed his hat on his head. "I want the crew on deck. I believe I owe you all an explanation." he stated firmly.

"Aye-aye, Captain."

 _Thank the Sea he's back._

* * *

 _It was just another night. The moon was shining brightly overhead._

 _It was earlier on, when he had just been kidnapped, he remembered._

 _He vividly remembered the sensation of being tossed through three walls, and seeing stunned faces as he sailed past people going about their nightly business._

 _He also remembered the sting of defeat. Whitebeard had swept him aside carelessly as if he was nothing but a fly._

 _He supposed he was, compared to the giant and his monstrous strength._

 _The man was_ snoring. _He didn't even have to be_ awake _to fight him._

" _Jeez, kid, give it a rest! It's the middle of the night!"_

" _Yeah! Let us sleep!"_

 _Tch. They were both ones to talk, weren't they? Drinking in the middle of the night instead of sleeping…_

 _He was hugging his knees close to his chest while staring blankly into the sea, his mind wandering._

 _Rhythmic footsteps drew him out of his stupor and he blinked at the silhouette of the first commander. He was the only one with such ridiculous hair. Though Thatch and Jozu had weird hair, too._

 _The commander gently set a bowl next to him. Ace squinted at it; it smelled vaguely like a soup._

 _Ignore it. It could be poisoned, his mind hissed at him._

 _Ace wrenched his gaze away, and the commander let out a quiet sigh and began moving away._

 _His stomach growled piteously._

" _Why do you call him father?" The sudden question resounded in the stillness of the night._

 _Surprised, Marco turned around._

" _Everyone on this ship calls him father. Why?"_

" _You don't know, yoi?" Marco asked. "It's because he calls us his sons. Everyone on this ship is family. And that's the old man's dream. To have a family of his own. Father, brother… They're just words, but… they make us happy."_

 _Ace could only stare at him._

" _You're your own person. Eventually, you're going to have to make your own decision. You can't beat Pops, not the way you are now, yoi. There's going to be a day where you'll either leave this ship or sail under Pop's flag and take on his mark. You can't keep going on like this forever."_

 _And he knew that all too well._

* * *

" _You're your own person."_

I've made my decision now, Marco.

" _Everyone on this ship is family."_

Just like you told me to.

" _They're just words, but… They make us happy."_

There's no turning back.

" _You can't keep going on like this forever."_

No regrets.

* * *

 **A/N:**

Turning point alert: Ace has finally left the Whitebeards! This is actually a major plot point because nothing can really happen when he's still with them. Now that he isn't, there's a lot of crazy things waiting for him.

Regarding Haruta, you all might be a bit confused, but it'll be explained later on. Yep. it's the start of what I promised to have connections to Blackbeard. It's not really a big thing, but…

For now things will continue to be calm.

I know that logically you can't go from the New World to Paradise through the Calm Belt (I think), but I don't have any other ideas, and this is a fanfiction. So yeah.

 **Reviews:**

WhiteyWolf26: Yep! No worries about Ace being killed off. I wanted him alive in this fanfic since the very beginning. Though no promises about the Whitebeards, especially Whitebeard himself, because, you know, people get old and die. That's normal. Also, Blackbeard has no conflict with Ace becoming a Warlord because he hasn't found the yami yami no mi yet. That'll be shown (maybe) in a later chapter. He doesn't need to warlord position, he simply sent Lafitte in an attempt to keep the spot open. When he does find the yami yami no mi, it would be no trouble for him to defeat a warlord... or something causes a warlord to lose their position. Still ,something is going to happen to make Ace hate Blackbeard very, very much, so they are on a collision course. Sadly, that's in the far future, not the near future. Also, Blackbeard has never met Ace as he was sent on a mission before he arrived and hasn't returned, so he knows nothing about him. I suppose the duel not happening and revealing what he's truly capable of is important, too (Why didn't I think of that?!)

Yuzukikuran476: Mwahahaha! I'm so proud of myself, because I did already think of that! (finally!) Naturally, Ace has the option of asking the Whitebeards for help. He also had to option as asking Mihawk or Hancock to go to Impel Down in his place. But he didn't! Why? Ace is something that is very proud and independent. He won't ask his friends or enemies for help unless he absolutely needs to. Therefore, he's doing this on his own!

VisitorNo.18: "…"

"…"

"…"

Why do all the good ideas come to me after I finish writing everything? Sky sailing sounds fun… but besides the fact that I already wrote the chapter, I think the Spade Pirate's ship has no propellers or anything, so they can't get up there? Also, they might not even have known Sky Islands existed. In addition, I'm uncertain as to whether or not there were Sky Islands near their locations. But Sky Sailing might be useful to avoid enemies… as long as you can get your ship up there :) good idea, though! If in the future I can use it, I'll definitely try!

Thanks to all three of you who reviewed! You're all people who've reviewed a few times already, so thanks for not giving up on giving me encouragement and ideas (that are too good).

I realize I write a lot in response to reviews, and sometimes might be a blabbermouth, but I really enjoy reading your comments and questions, then writing responses. If you think I'm giving too much spoilers, tell me.

Please tell me what you all think will happen next! (not the obvious stuff like Impel Down, please! The things that are far enough so that I haven't really decided… well, that's pretty far. But I want to know where you all think this story is leading to!)

I also want to thank the people who have favorited, followed, viewed, etc.

That's the end of what I need to say, so…

See you all in two weeks!

(Drop a review before you leave!)


	14. Chapter 14

Thank you to Kippysaurus, Aconight and Akatsuki-Metal for proofreading this chapter.

* * *

"The reason why I decided to contact the Marines for a Warlord position was because my gramps decided to send me some news." Ace grimaced.

Some of the pirates who had met the man unconsciously shuddered. Ace's grandpa was a monster that even their captain couldn't stand up to.

"Apparently, my brother, who died about eight years ago, has somehow risen from the dead and is now running around with the Revolutionaries."

"...How is that even possible?" Wallace shook his head. "Should've known I'd never have a peaceful moment with you lot around." he bemoaned.

"If he's alive, why didn't he try to find you?"

"And didn't you just have one brother?"

"Gramps told me he has amnesia. And I always had two brothers. I met him even before I met Luffy. One of those Celestial Dragon bastards shot down his ship when he set sail." Ace growled.

"I mean, I know being a Warlord comes with certain benefits, but I don't see how it'll lead us to the Revolutionaries. Unless you're planning on luring them out… somehow." Dusty commented dubiously. "Even then, they're quite elusive."

"The answer to this problem is in Impel Down." Ace announced dramatically, with a bright grin on his face.

"..."

"Please don't tell me you're thinking what I'm thinking."

"Don't worry, Mihar, I'm not asking you to storm Impel Down with me." Ace said flatly. "Even I'm not that stupid."

"Cough. I beg to differ. Cough." Skull commented not so subtly.

"If you're sick, you should go and see Doc," Dusty commented.

"Nah, it was just a bit of dust." Skull began sweating.

"I sure hope so, we can't have everyone falling sick."

Phew. Scary… Skull thought. He's only gotten more fearsome and more responsible.

Ace drew everyone's attention again. "This is the plan."

"Wow."

Ace frowned. "What?"

"I am very surprised, Captain," Skull said dramatically. "I didn't think you were capable of thinking at all, and you came up with this complicated, difficult plan."

Ace's eyebrow twitched.

Skull began backing up- now was a great time to start running!

Ace took a threatening step towards Skull, but then he suddenly crumpled. His head hit the deck, creating a thud that crashed into the quietness of the deck.

Jaws dropped. Then the laughing began.

"Oh, I thought I was dead for sure!" Skull howled, pounding the deck with his fist. "And then he just falls asleep!"

Several Spade pirates were rolling around in mirth.

Deuce looked at them, not the least amused. "I suggest you take your leave before he wakes up."

Skull immediately sat up. "Crap! Gotta go!" He sped off belowdecks.

He was halfway to his chosen hiding place, the barracks, when he heard a roared "Get back here!"

* * *

"Bwahahahaha! Cheeky brat!" Garp munched on his rice crackers.

"Your family is nothing but trouble, Garp!" Sengoku thundered. "Your adopted grandson has already caused me enough problems! He manages to keep out of my hair for a month! Then he comes up with this!"

Garp continued laughing, undeterred.

"Do you even think your grandson is going to show up?"

"Of course he will! He's my grandson after all!"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"When he shows up I'm going to give him a good ol' Fist of Love!" Garp laughed some more.

"If he wasn't a damn pirate I'd charge you for child abuse," Sengoku grumbled.

"You love me too much to arrest me, Senny! Bwahahahaha!"

"When are you going to retire? Half of the gray hairs on my head are there because of you and your family of lunatics!"

"Maaaa." The goat that had been quietly standing in the corner bleated in fear, as Garp had accidentally punched a hole in Sengoku's desk while laughing.

"Get out of my office! And use the door properly this time!" Sengoku looked at the hole in his desk in annoyance. It was bad enough that he had to replace the doors (for the upteenth time), but he also had to replace the desk, which was very expensive!

He should really petition for a 'antics by D's' fund.

"Don't feel like it." Garp continued breaking into Sengoku's private stash of rice crackers nonchalantly.

"Stop eating my food!" He snatched them back. "And you better fix the hole in my door!"

A marine with pink hair peered into the office through the aforementioned hole.

"You! What are you doing there?"

"Uh-" He jumped to attention. "Someone told us Vice Admiral Garp was here and we're lookingforhimI'mverysorrytodisturbyousir-"

"Shhhhh!" Suddenly the rambling marine was dragged down the hall.

"Are you trying to get us into trouble, Coby? You didn't have to look into the office like that! You could have knocked on the door!"

"But Helmeppo, there's a hole in the door!"

"Then knock on the wall next to the door!"

"But the Ensign just told us to look into the office with the hole in the door!" Coby said, shaking his head frantically.

"Who knows who's in that office! I heard the admirals have their offices on this floor!"

"Eh?! But why would Garp-san be with an Admiral?"

"I don't know, to do stuff Admirals do! What did he look like?" Helmeppo questioned.

"Old. He has a seagull on his hat."

"Maybe he put bird feed on his hat, then glued the seagull that came flying onto his hat to make it look cool."

"That's so cruel!"

Back in the office, Sengoku raised an eyebrow. "They do realize we can hear everything they say, right?"

Garp did not reply as his head fell to the desk with a thud and started snoring.

The words apparently carried over to the two in the hall, who froze, then both stuck their heads into the hole.

"We're very sorry!" Helmeppo said, waving his hands around.

Coby poked him. "Gar- the vice admiral is here!"

"-very sorry- he is?" Helmeppo almost fell over at the sight of Garp snoring with a snot bubble coming out of his nose. "He was here the whole time!"

"May I ask who you are?" Sengoku had long since put down his pen. This was much more interesting than signing papers.

"Er- you don't need to know?" Helmeppo said.

"Why did you say that!" Coby hissed. "I'm Coby! This is Helmeppo! We're, um, here to collect Vice Admiral Garp!"

"..." Sengoku impassively stared at the two sweating teens.

"..."

"We're screwed." Helmeppo whispered out of the corner of his mouth.

"Okay."

"Oh, oka- Wait, WHAT?!" Coby asked.

"Please, get him out of my office without causing any more property damage."

"Er-"

"Yes, sir!" Helmeppo darted into the office. "How is he this heavy! Help me, Coby!" Helmeppo wheezed.

"Uh- oh, sorry!" Still sweating profusely under the gaze of the Fleet Admiral, he and Helmeppo managed to haul the sleeping Vice Admiral to the training grounds.

"Phew. That was close." Helmeppo let out a breath and dropped the Marine Hero on the concrete.

"Be more careful!" Coby hissed.

"He can crush rocks with his bare hands. I think he'll be able to handle that. More importantly, who was that old guy?"

"Well-"

"Huh?" Garp sat up. "Coby! Wasn't I in Senny's office?"

"Whose office, sir?" Coby asked, genuinely confused and hoping for an answer.

"He asked us to bring you here, sir!" Helmeppo interrupted, lying through his teeth.

"Uh-" Coby shot a look at Helmeppo and began to speak, but he was stopped by an elbow to the ribs.

Garp started picking his nose. "Since we're here anyway, we can start training early today!"

* * *

 **A/N:**

I know.

It was supposed to be out by Saturday…

I got sick…

And it's out now, so…

Sorry?

Just saying, though, if this reaches 50 reviews with this chapter, I'll definitely be posting chapter 15 this Friday/Saturday, so that'll be good… right?

In this chapter, we have Coby, Helmeppo and Garp…

Still not very exciting, I guess, but the Spades are sailing towards Marineford.

I really don't have much more to say, so...

Reviews:

-bpv229: Hi! In response to your question, nope! Ace has no idea where Sabo or the Revolutionaries are, so he's decided to visit Impel Down because he knows 2 revolutionary commanders have recently been captured. It might have been a bit unclear previously, but I hope this chapter cleared things up for you! Also, yup! Ace is going to meet Luffy sometime soon, too. I'm pretty excited to write that, and I won't go into details. You'll just have to wait and see!

-Guest: Thanks for the compliment^^. I'm aware that this story is the type with the low word count with lot of chapters, but my writing speed is… not impressive. Add on the stress of daily life (oh, the burdens of being a lazy person!), well, yeah. I'll try my best to keep the updates coming on schedule, though.

-Yuzukikuran476: I'm sorry I don't update often… but I'm pretty sure that with this chapter, ASL Reborn will hit the 50-review mark and I'll post chapter 15 a week early. Without your contributions, though, I'd probably have to wait a lot longer for that!

-WhiteyWolf26: Such a long review! Okay, so where to start… Ace is pretty strong for a rookie who entered the New World a little while ago. But Whitebeard is an Emperor, so his strength is off the charts, despite his failing health. He's also got a lot more experience… so instead of it being like throwing a handful of sand into the sea, it might be throwing a boulder into the sea. There's still a huge gap between the two. I think I'll try to keep Whitebeard around a bit longer (no promises, though).

-Sciara: Yup! Ace isn't as reckless as Luffy now that he's experience being beaten down… and yes, Ace becoming a Warlord is something the marines will definitely regret in the future! As for the matter regarding Haruta… mwahahaha! You'll have to patiently await answers!

-VisitorNo.18: Ace does have conqueror's Haki, and he is capable of controlling it… to a certain extent. And yes, I totally, agree, One Piece is full of some bizarre stuff! I've racked my brains for a long, loooong time to come up with this plot, but it still can't even start to compare with the things Oda comes up with. As for Marineford… haha, sorry to disappoint you, but not yet! Soon, though.

That's a total of… (counting) 6 reviews! That's probably the most reviews I've gotten on a single chapter before ^_^.

I've seen some new people this time, which is great. Welcome, guys!

Also, seeing as the number of reviews is at 48, let me remind you, I haven't forgotten my promise to you all. I've already finished preparations for that, since this chapter should bring it over the edge.

Naturally, it needs to reach 50 reviews first.

(hope to see you all this weekend!)


	15. Chapter 15

In celebration of ASL Reborn reaching 50+ reviews, I present to you: Chapter 15!

Gratitude to Kippysaurus, Aconight and Akatsuki-Metal for spending extra time to proofread this chapter ahead of time!

* * *

"Marco, go to sleep."

"I'm fine, yoi." Marco answered distractedly, as he underlined a few words on a piece of paper. "I need to finish this… and check the treasury, then tell Fossa to go and fix up the training room on the third floo-"

"I will do it." Izou snatched the pen from Marco. "Just go to the kitchens. Thatch is expecting you. After you eat a full meal, you will go back to your room and sleep. I had Jozu confiscate all of your paperwork, and Curiel will be here so don't try to get back in. Understood?"

"Izou, I'm fine." Marco sighed. "I'll just finish this and pick up a sandwich or something from the kitchens later-"

"No," Izou stated firmly. "You haven't slept for nearly 3 days, Marco. Thatch is very worried about you. So you will do exactly as I say, and if I need to, I'm more than willing to drag you around myself."

Marco still looked like he was going to protest, so Izou decided to take another step.

"If you don't, I'll report you to Bay and have her knock you out with some meds. Bay keeps sea stone chains in the infirmary for this very purpose." he warned. "And if I tell Bay, she'll probably mention it to Pops." he added. Izou didn't like guilt tripping Marco, per se, but he was more than ready to get Oyaji to interfere if necessary.

Just because he was a phoenix and could regenerate didn't mean that going without sleep or food for long periods of time was okay.

"Fine, yoi." Marco glowered at Izou. "I'll go to Thatch, and then straight to bed, but I'm going to continue working tomorrow. Don't bother Oyaji about this."

"So long as you show up for meals and maintain a regular sleep schedule," Izou said firmly. "You know Oyaji won't see this as a bother."

Marco frowned some more.

"You need to talk, so let's do it with Thatch." Izou grabbed Marco's arm and began dragging him to the kitchens, where Thatch was waiting impatiently.

"Marco, you better eat everything I made you!" Thatch leapt out of his chair. " And make sure you show up for every meal from now on! Do you know how worried everyone was?"

"Thatch, I'm fine, yoi."

He got an unconvinced frown in return.

Reluctantly, Marco sat down. After glancing at the sheer amount of food on the table, he raised an eyebrow. "You didn't really have to-"

"Not another word!" Thatch proclaimed. "As a cook, it's my duty to make sure no one on this ship goes hungry, and that includes you!"

"Okay, okay."

"So. Spill." Izou prompted.

"Spill what, yoi?"

"You don't just randomly go into workaholic mode."

"..."

"Marco…"

"I'm just confused. About Ace." he clarified. "From what I've seen, he was actually warming up to us. There was really no reason to pack up his bags and leave all of a sudden, yoi."

"That was strange, I suppose," Izou agreed. "Especially when he flat out refused to fight Haruta. Ace wasn't afraid to fight Pops. Why would he suddenly just give up? If they had fought, he probably would have won."

"The day he got that letter, he asked me to show him our map. He specifically asked about Marines, pirates, some of the Shichibukai, other Yonko and the Revolutionary Army, yoi."

"The powerhouses."

"Yes, yoi. At the time, I didn't pry into why he wanted to see the map." Marco added. "I later learned that Ace told Haruta that 'there isn't enough time' when he called the duel off. He also told Pops that he was leaving with his ship and any crewmate who was willing. He asked Pops to integrate anyone who wanted to stay with us. Pops, naturally, agreed. Then he found me and I helped him gather up all the Spade pirates," Marco listed. "That's everything, yoi."

"That day, there was a whole fiasco with a carrier bat," Thatch added.

"When was that?" Izou asked.

"I was on deck, with Blenheim. There was a commotion near the stern, so I went over to check it, and the men around were screaming something about news coos, flying black blobs with sharp claws, and vampires."

Seeing blank looks on their faces, Thatch continued.

"Eventually one of the more sensible men told me it was one of the World Government's carrier bats. They assumed the old fools were trying to 'negotiate' with Pops again, but Pops didn't receive anything. I didn't think much of it at the time so I didn't mention it."

"It could have been passing through… Could it have been for Ace?" Izou took a delicate bite of his muffin. "He did receive a package from a marine Rear Admiral."

"So, assuming that it was from a marine, what could they have said? Why would Ace leave so hurriedly, yoi?" Marco tapped his fork against an empty plate in frustration.

"Whatever he's planning, we'll hear about it sooner or later," Izou soothed. "Now that you're done eating, go and sleep."

"But-"

"Thatch will do the dishes. Thatch is doing them right now," Izou said irritably. "So go!"

"Right, yoi."

* * *

"Was this really a good idea?"

"It's a bit too late to think about that now," Dusty commented, as he warily watched the marines standing at attention around them. "They're already gone."

"We really shouldn't have agreed to this." Mihar kept on staring at the doors that Ace and Deuce had disappeared through.

"I know."

"Don't worry. Captain's strong and he knows what he's doing," Skull muttered, more to himself than to anyone else.

"Well, I'm just hoping we don't run into that crazy excuse of a grandfather," Cornelia snorted.

"Seconded!" Pinnacle squeaked.

"Don't jinx it!"

"He's actually much scarier than all of the other marines combined."  
"Yeah. As long as we don't run into him, we're fine." Kimel nodded.

"I have to say, I can't believe we're more afraid of some ancient grandpa than the marine admirals," Saber commented in amusement.

"Old grandpa or not, he's crazy," Bary shuddered.

"It's like saying you're more afraid of ants than tigers!" Dusty chimed in. "Garp is the one who captured Gold Roger. He's a legend."

"Some people just don't like bugs."

"Yeah, what is that called again? Insectobia?"

"Insectophobia, or entomophobia," Banshee rolled her eyes.

"Whatever. It sounds the same to me," Saber said dismissively.

"Maybe that's because your hearing is going."

"What?! Help! Doc! I'm dying, help me!" Saber started yelling dramatically.

"Stop with the antics, all of you. We don't want to make a commotion in Marine HQ," Dusty grumbled in annoyance.

"..."

"Hey! Captain and Deuce are back!" Ducky Bree called.

"Do we need to make a speedy exit?" Pinnacle whispered nervously.

"If we did, I doubt the marines would be so kind as to allow us to see our enlightened captain one last time," Aggie 68 commented dryly.

"Guys! We're leaving!" Ace called as he and the first mate boarded.

"Leaving? Great! Er-why is a marine battleship following us? What did he blow up this time, Deuce?"

* * *

 **A/N:**

The Whitebeards have shown up after a long time! (has it been a long time? It feels like that to me…)

One of the questions some of you may have is why Marco is worried to the point of workaholic mode. In my opinion, normal Marco is slightly workaholic already. Also, he likes Ace, so being a little worried is reasonable. In addition, they have no idea why Ace left so abruptly and where he is going. Marco would be the kind of person, I think, that would dwell on the confusion.

So yeah. That's why he decided to start working 24-7.

Also, the Spades have arrived at Marineford. And yes, the meeting happened. I didn't add any real details about Ace meeting with Sengoku (or even Ace meeting with Whitebeard). Some of you wanted to see it, but I don't really have much ideas for it.

 **Reviews:**

-G1ntsuk1: Hello! Yes, I agree. Not many people would write about Ace being a Warlord because that would be way out of character for him- if it wasn't for one of his precious brothers, it would never have happened. No, Ace won't remain a Warlord forever, just until he decides to destroy a marine base or two and gets kicked out. As for the meetings… I'll leave you in suspense.

-yuzukikuran476: Yup! I don't really dislike Sengoku, but yeah. It's fun to write about Garp and Sengoku.

-WhiteyWolf26: Thatch is a character I like. Maybe I'll decide to keep him around. I'm considering letting him survive, but having an injury? Any suggestions? Glad to see you like the whole fiasco in the end!

-daisy2295: aww, thanks! I usually write small memories because I'm not that good at describing setting and all that. Besides, I feel that sometimes, writing less is better because readers can picture the scene in their own ways… (do I make sense?) All that confusion regarding Luffy and Ace will be cleared up, have no worries.

-Fancyunicorn: you're welcome! I'm glad that you enjoy my work!

-sairakanzaki: Thank you! I wish that I can update once per week all the time, but writing chapters alongside everyday life is… challenging. I'm not that talented, so it takes a lot of time for me to find a direction to write in. The editing process is lengthy as well. Writing is my passion, but it takes a lot of time.

Thanks again to all the new and old reviewers alike as well as to everyone else that has shown their support through favs and follows. It really makes my day.

The next chapter will be slightly different than normal, so be prepared to skip to the A/N first to get my explanation before reading (please don't just close it!)

See you all in two weeks, I guess.


	16. Chapter 16

Yep. If you're asking me if I'm aware that this is about 2-3 weeks late, I'm aware! I've been very busy with finals and regents and last minute cramming... And summer vacation isn't exactly the 'hey, let's stay home all day and play videogames' story anymore, but the 'you only have fifty pages of homework to do, and don't forget you also need to go to tutoring tomorrow!' kind of story. And, I think that I just got infected with a worldwide epidemic that's causing our society to crash- laziness.

I can no longer promise to have orderly updates...

With that cheery note, let's actually begin talking about this update.

I issued the warning in the last chapter, but maybe you didn't see? Please skip to the A/N if you are asking yourself "what the hell is this?"

Or you could finish reading everything first. You should be able to get it… hopefully.

Thanks to Aconight, Kippysaurus, and Akatsuki-Metal for proofreading this chapter.

* * *

She hadn't always been alone. She could remember a time when she still had a family, when she still had a father and a mother and an older brother that all loved her.

Her home island was an island in West Blue. Insignificant, because it was tiny and nothing worth noticing ever occurred there.

Her father had bravely protected innocent people from pirates during his days as a marine captain. After being discharged, he had returned to the island in time for her birth. He had achieved a great deal as a marine, so it was he who was in charge of the watch that protected the island from pirates.

She had never asked him why he had been discharged, she realized. And she would never know.

She was seven when she last saw her father. For a long time, she would ask her mother why her father didn't come home.

"Where is he, Mama? Does he not want us anymore?"

Her mother would cry, and tell her that her father had left the island to take care of important business. That he would be back soon.

So she, being a young, naive child, woke up each and every day with the hope that her father would come back.

When she was 10, an elder of the village asked her what was on her mind as she sat on the bench, staring at the sea.

"I was wondering where my father is right now. I hope he's fine. Mama said that he left when I was younger, but that he'll come back soon," she replied brightly.

The elder came to her house that afternoon.

"Sandra, I cannot allow this to go on any further! You've been lying to her for so long! And she's been hoping that her father will come back every day! Did you tell Ian that lie too?"

She was standing mutely in the hallway, cup held loosely in her hands as she held her breath and listened to the two talk.

"She has a right to know, Sandra. The truth."

"Hey, are you alright, sis?"

She flinched, almost dropping her cup and turned around to face Ian. "Y-Yeah. I wanted to get some water, but I think Mama's talking with an elder." she whispered.

"Yeah. Maybe we should go back."

"-tell her that he is dead and can't come back!"

"You don't know that! He might still be alive!"  
"Even if he is, he'll probably be a slave. You know that they don't escape easily." His voice softened. "He won't be able to come back here, Sandra. Not even if he's free."

"I know. Tell her, then. Look her in the eyes and tell her that her father is dead!"

There was a dull thunk as a plastic cup fell from lax fingers. The two in the tiny living room fell silent.

"Hey. Hey, you alright?" he asked worriedly.

"He's… dead?"

"Who is?" The confusion in his voice was palpable.

"Our father." She whispered, staring at him.

He didn't even blink. "What do you mean?"

"You knew, right? You all knew," she breathed out.

"Where are you going?" Ian called. He heard the door slam.

* * *

She learned that she couldn't trust everything her mother said. She couldn't even trust most of it.

But youth often results in naivety, and her loss of trust in her mother made her turn to the next best alternative- Ian.

One day when she was ten, she noticed that both her brother and her mother were acting strangely.

That day, Ian pulled her aside and said, "Mom's been feeling a bit down lately. She has to spend a lot of time at work every day, and I don't want her to have more to worry about at home, so starting today, we're going to take care of everything around the house, okay?"

"Okay!" She chirped brightly.

They gradually took over everything.

Ian would cook while she would set the table and wash the dishes. On the weekends, she would do the laundry and tidy up the house while Ian worked shifts at a store.

No one else in the village had to support their families like they had to; no one else had to constantly patch up old clothing, or eat only two meals a day, or save candles by blowing them out early.

But Ian didn't let any of this bother him, and she followed his example.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of. They have fathers they can depend on, but we don't. Our father sacrificed himself to save someone else, and we should be proud of that," Ian told her.

She noticed that as time went on, her mother became increasingly pale and gaunt. She ate less, talked less and moved less. When she brought the subject up with Ian, he would say that Mom was tired and she had to do a lot. She would get better later.

Like most children her age, she didn't question what she was told.

Life continued, and the leaves on the tree in their backyard began to turn yellow and fall.

The same elder that had told her about the death of her father pulled her out of class one day.

"I need to tell you something very important." the elder began.

She nodded, but warning bells were already ringing in her head.

"I need to tell you something very important."

"Your mother-

"Your father-"

"-was a beautiful girl. A clever, sweet, wonderful girl."

"-was a courageous and honorable man. He was the best of the village."

"What do you mean, was?" She blurted out, panicked and confused.

The elder stared at his gnarled hands. "I'm very sorry for your loss."

"I'm sorry for your loss."

"She was so young, yet it was her time."

"He managed to save that girl, but he didn't manage to escape."

"Her last words to you were 'I love you.'"

"I was there, a little too slow. The last thing I heard him say was 'Take care of my wife and children.'"

"I'm sorry. She's gone."

* * *

"How?"

"A sickness. We don't know where it came from, and we don't have a cure. We managed to prolong her life but her body couldn't keep up anymore."

"She gave up."

"She didn't, she-"

"She gave up. She left us behind." She gave up on us.

"She tried."

She had a word she hated now: try.  
Trying is not enough if the result does not change.

* * *

"I can't stay here anymore. I'm sorry. So, so sorry. But I'm seventeen already, and I'm going to join the marines and protect Justice."

"So you're leaving." Leaving me behind.

"Yes."

Ian left the island on a merchant ship a week after she left the house, which was empty yet so heavy with memories, and moved into the orphanage.

She would occasionally receive a letter describing all the things Ian was doing and seeing. All the things she could not do or see.

"When I grow up, I'm going to leave this island. I'm going to sail the seas. I'm going to live." she swore.

* * *

"He was so brave. He stayed behind and saved multiple lives by sacrificing himself."

Words are meaningless. Whether you're praised or insulted by someone after your death doesn't matter because in the end, nothing will change the fact that you won't come back.

"-valor...-honor…-courage-"

He's gone, too.

She lost her father at seven. Her mother at eleven. Her brother at fourteen.

This island was her sanctuary, her home.

But isn't home where your family is?

She had no one left.

"When I become a Marine Captain, I'll come back and take you with me! We can defeat pirates together!"

Liar.

* * *

"Who was it?"

"Excuse me, Miss?"

"Who killed him?"

"I'm sorry for your loss, Miss, but you can't-" Another word she hated. Sorry. No, no one was sorry and none of them had any right to pity her,

"You did know which crew you were fighting, I hope?"

"They're extremely dangerous-"

"I just want a name. I want to know who to blame."

"For your safety, Miss, we cannot disclose that information." They didn't know, either.

So she blamed the sky for being so wide and open, so clear and blue.

* * *

"I'm sorry. But I need to get off this island before it suffocates me," she said to the empty air as she started untying the boat.

She had already stolen an adequate supply of food from the orphanage and gathered up all her belongings, as well as the money that had been left to her. All of it was on the fisherman's little boat.

"I'm going out to sea, Mom. I'm sorry I'm leaving you here alone, but I'm going to go out to sea and finish everything that they started." I am going to live.

The sun was rising when she cast off.

She looked back, just once, when she was some distance away.

She had always known her island was small, but now, it was lovely.

* * *

"What's your name, sweetie?" the kind lady asked. "You were unconscious for almost two days."

Two days? Yes, she remembered drifting aimlessly on the sea, slowly wasting away from starvation and dehydration. It really hadn't been a good idea to leave without any knowledge on where the next landmass was.

Her name? The girl who bore her name had been happy. Carefree. That girl was dead. "I don't have a name."

"Would you like to stay here?" the lady offered. "I would love to have a little helper around."

She nodded mutely.

"But you need a name, little miss."

"I'm not little!"

"Quite a temper, too," The lady's eyes flashed with amusement. "How about… Haruta?" she offered.

"Ha-ru-ta," she sounded the name out cautiously. "Okay!"

* * *

 **A/N:**

Hello, guys!

So, hopefully not many people decided to just close the tab…

Remember how I said that I would eventually explain the whole situation with Haruta, about her statement concerning lies? (refer back to chapter 13)

If you still don't get it, it's a part of her memories.

It was supposed to be short… but…

Yeah. So it's here now (I also recall promising it might have something to do with Blackbeard. I must clarify this: he won't be showing up in her memories. It will be something different).

I won't make them take up the whole chapter next time though.

Reviews:

-WhiteyWolf26: Hey! Nice to see you again. I agree that it'll be easy for Thatch to survive. It's likely that he was killed immediately by Teach's stab. I have no idea what kind of injuries I should make him suffer, though, because I myself have never been really critically injured… Suggestions, please? Also, I feel that Thatch wasn't killed because he was really lost in thought, but because the entire Whitebeard crew believed wholeheartedly that Teach was their comrade. They trusted him completely. It's sad really, what greed does to people. I completely understand where you're going for, and don't worry, keeping Thatch alive is a goal I have in mind.

-sairakanzaki: yeah, everything will be fine. The whitebeards don't know exactly what happens, so they'll have to follow the news and make guesses just like everyone else. Maybe they'll get a hint or two, I haven't decided yet.

-yuzukikuran476: Thanks!

-Vi-Violence: Honestly, I didn't think of that… so you might be disappointed. They'll have to meet and talk eventually, but it shouldn't be anytime soon.

See you all soon, I guess? (leave a review!)


	17. Chapter 17

Okay, so if you hadn't gotten the message, this is the proper chapter 17. Long story short, I somehow messed up and posted the wrong chapter...

Thanks for your efforts, my wonderful betas, for helping me revise this chapter.

* * *

"They're still following us?!"

"For once, Ace didn't destroy anything. It _should_ be fine," Deuce assured Pinnacle, although he was secretly enjoying the crew's panic.

"Then, er... why are they still following us?" Pinnacle asked. He peeked behind them timidly.

"Captain asked for permission to go to Impel Down. He told Sengoku he wanted to grill Crocodile on how his brother was doing. Sengoku agreed," Deuce began explaining.

"So it's official? Sweet!"

"You still haven't explained the battleship," Banshee waved her hand in front of Deuce's face.

"Sengoku told Strawberry to guide us through the Tarai current, so that we wouldn't wander over to Enies Lobby. Not that there's anything left there," he snickered.

"So basically, the Marines don't trust us."

"Who? Us?"

"No, the lynx. Well, duh, us!"

"But why wouldn't they? Aren't we on their side now?"

"So you're going to become marine fanatics?" Cornelia scoffed. "The only thing tying us together is a mutually beneficial agreement. We aid the Marines when they need it, and, in return, they turn a blind eye to any of our criminal activities. Beyond that, they don't trust us any more than they would trust a regular pirate."

"Then isn't letting us all into Impel Down a bit risky?"

"I'm staying. Like hell I'm leaving our ship with the Marines!" Aggie 68 snapped.

"Only the Captain's going," Deuce kept an argument from erupting. "No one else is allowed inside."

"What?!"

"But what if they decide to try and, I don't know, lock him up in there? He'll have no one in there to watch his back!"

"Can't help it. They don't want too many people wandering around," Deuce shrugged.

"Hey, shouldn't you be a little more worried?!"

"Ace doesn't have a problem with it. Besides, the Marines want to use him. They can't do that if he's locked up. Plus, if they try to lock Ace up, imagine what would happen if his grandpa and brother found out."  
"Yeah, I forgot about the crazy family members."

"How is Captain's little bro doing anyway?"

"Luckily, Captain was asleep when the newspapers came today," Wallace whispered. "But keep it down! If I have to face his brother complex one more time, I'm going to jump overboard!"

"I read that the Straw Hats declared war on the World Government by shooting their flag down after they destroyed Enies Lobby and saved Nico Robin. Oh, and Garp was at Water 7. He was trying to keep the situation under control, or so the papers claim. That's why we didn't see him at Marineford."

"Thank you, Straw Hat! Perfect timing!"

"Wow, they sure are crazy. Even crazier than we are-"

"Who said Straw Hat?" Ace materialized next to Dusty. "Tell me!"

"Huh? Oh, hey Captain!" Saber said hurriedly, sweat gathering on his forehead. "Dusty said Dog Hat. As in Monkey D. Garp's dog hat? You know…?"

"You have a horrible poker face," Ace deadpanned.

"Next time, leave the lying to me!" Wallace hissed furiously. "Or don't mention it when he's right next to you!"

"Spill!" Ace ordered.

* * *

Ten minutes later…

"Luffy was so cute when he was younger… Always shouting about how he would become the Pirate King and beat me. As if he could! That stupid little midget was always so cheerful and did I mention how cute he was? I never told you about the time he tried to hunt crocodiles by himself, right? I had to rescue the idiot..." Ace rambled, not noticing his crewmates plugging their ears in a futile gesture to stop hearing Ace tell the same story the tenth time as he cheerfully cutting from the newspaper.

"Bounty posters!" Banshee shoved the one with Monkey D. Luffy's smiling face under Ace's nose, which was pretty effective at shutting him up.

"Thank you!" the crew chorused.

* * *

" _Thank you for everything," She bowed to her. "I'm leaving now."_

 _"Please stay. It's nice having some help around…" Aika's voice trailed off._

 _The store was empty, and had been for days. People didn't think of buying clothes, not when they couldn't even afford food._

 _Still, Aika had asked her to stay. Told her with her eyes that everything would be better. "Haruta, it's dangerous out there. I will worry less for you if you stay here."_

 _She bit her lip. "My apologies. I have a promise I have yet to fulfill."_

 _"A promise? To whom?"_

 _"To myself. I want to join the Marines. I want to sail the seas." I don't want to be a burden._

 _"You're only sixteen, and small for that!"_

 _"I need to leave now, or I'll miss my ride," She whispered. "Thank you for everything, please take care of yourself." She ran, all the unspoken words choking her._

* * *

 _"I want to become a Marine! Please sign me up!"_

 _"Scram. We don't want runts like you."_

 _It was true she was small, but she didn't like the way he had looked down at her. "I'm sixteen! I'm willing to learn!"_

 _"Kid, just go home. You wouldn't survive a week."_

 _"I-"_

 _"What's the problem here?"_

 _"Captain!" the Marine saluted. "This kid just ran up to me and said she wanted to enlist!"_

 _"Tch, we don't accept brats or women. Go home and do your chores. I've a mind to send for your parents and get them to drag you back home. A girl like you wanting to join the Marines? We haven't sunk that low yet!" He snorted._

 _"I can become the best Marine you'll ever find!"_

 _"Toss her out."_

 _"I'll become strong one day!" she shouted desperately. The door of the base slammed shut. "And when I do, I'll remember you," she whispered._

* * *

 _She couldn't even remember what hope was anymore, only that day after day, no one was willing to give a little girl the chance to prove that she could protect and uphold Justice._

 _Every single time she got rejected, she picked herself up and headed towards the docks to search for a ship off of this island and to the next._

 _She had cut her hair and worked as a cabin boy for rides to wherever the ship was heading. The callouses on her hands and her steady sea legs were proof of the time she'd spent traveling the sea._

 _She did remember puking her guts up and hiding in a storeroom the first few days._

 _That was in the past now._

 _It had already been half a year since she had left her home; she had nowhere to go anymore._

* * *

 _"I am sorry to inform you that we are no longer accepting recruits, ma'am."_

 _She wasn't blind. She had seen people sign up, wouldn't have risked it otherwise, but she was too small, too weak._

 _"Tch, a worm like you, joining the Marines? Scram, boy!"_

 _They wouldn't consider her even if she pretended to be a boy._

 _"Once again, the Marines is not a charity organization! There is an orphanage on the island, brat! Now stop bothering my soldiers!"_

 _Just an orphan._

 _"I want to protect Justice, and accomplish everything Dad did!"_

 _She could still hear the echoes of excited declarations and promises that Ian had made with her, but they were just that._

 _Echoes._

* * *

 _She had docked on an island one day and never left._

 _There was no point in trying anymore._

 _She could no longer continue living in her false illusion of hope._

 _"If the world won't accept me, I'll force them to!"_

 _Maybe it would have been better if I had stayed on that island of memories- and never left._

* * *

 **A/N:**

Okay, huge screwup on my end (Sorry!)

But I'm back! Hopefully to stay.

I originally planned on posting chapter 19 as an early Christmas gift for all of you, but then I realized my mistake. Promise that chapter 19 will be out before/on the 25!

I've been receiving a lot of reviews regarding Haruta. Initially, her story was supposed to be a small, short one. Yeah, we all know how that turned out. Don't worry! After this chapter and one more, it'll be over! Also, chapter 19 is not composed of her memories.

I have to make this clear, of all of the more obscure Whitebeard Commanders, Haruta is one of the ones that I'm rather fond of, or I wouldn't have wrote so much of her backstory. He or she, whichever you prefer, gives me a lot of opportunities to expand. I hadn't intended on making anyone dislike her character... She'll pull herself back together in no time.

Regarding the rest of this story... I've been looking over my previous ideas and revising them, now I've basically got a general idea of how I want this to progress. Of course, I'm always open to suggestions, so don't hesitate to share your opinions.

Expect chapter 19 by the 25th!


	18. Chapter 18

Hello! This is an update as of December the 22 (No, I am not abandoning this!) Just wanted to let you all know, I made a huge mistake while updating last time, and posted what was meant to be chapter 18 in place of chapter 17. I've fixed it now, you can go and view it. Thanks!

* * *

As always, many thanks to my betas for your efforts in proofreading this chapter.

* * *

"Haruta has been inconsolable for almost a week." Izou snapped. "Jiru's practically taken over all of her work. Something needs to change."

"Alright, yoi. Curiel, the tenth division hasn't had any major incidents lately, so if you could lend Jiru a hand-"

"I meant about Haruta!" Izou shouted, shocking most of the commanders. Whitebeard looked at him with concern as he continued. "She hadn't been to any meetings recently, either!"

Marco glanced at the twelfth division commander's empty seat. "And what do you want me to do, yoi?" he asked calmly.

"Tell us what happened so we can help." Izou said tersely.

"But what if we don't know what happened?" Thatch asked. "We have no idea why Haruta is behaving like this. Marco and I have both tried to talk to her!"

"Didn't Ace talk with her before he left? They weren't on good terms, maybe that's why?"

"Ace apologized for leaving without fulfilling their agreement and promised he would fulfill it the next time they meet, yoi."

"Why did he leave anyway?"

Thatch glanced at Marco. "Maybe he had something he needed to do urgently." he suggested.

"Tch. As if. He probably just gave up." Curiel muttered. Many commanders nodded in agreement.

Thatch opened his mouth to argue otherwise, but a look from Marco had him closing it without a word. How could they think that of him?

* * *

The two men that weren't afraid to laugh stood out starkly on the street.

Their stances indicated confidence, while their appearances were just plain weird.

The one with the pompadour had two swords and looked like he knew how to use them.

Her instincts were telling her they were dangerous, and that she should just walk past them.

But they were also telling her they were loaded, and she couldn't afford to miss such a golden opportunity, not if she wanted to clear the debt she owed the local apothecary for sewing up some nasty gashes on her arms.

Three steps away.

Two.

One and…

She was knocked straight to the ground.

The man with the pompadour was like a freaking bull! She began to wonder if he was made of metal.

"I'm so sorry!" The man began to panic.

"Uh-"

"Are you alright?"

That was her cue. "Yeah, I'm sorry. I wasn't paying attention." she said sheepishly.

"It's fine."

"Do you know where the docks are? I left my uncle's ship this morning and now I have no idea where I am."

"They're just two blocks down that way, yoi," The blonde pointed in the direction they came from. "Just keep going straight down and make a right."

"Well, at least I'm close." she said, after letting out a sigh of relief. "Thanks!"

"No problem, kiddo! I'm Thatch, and this is Marco."

"Haruta, nice to meetcha!"

"We're headed to the market, any chance you could point us in the right direction?"

"Just go straight and there'll be some signs posted up, you can't miss it."

"Well, we have to go. Maybe we'll see you around, Haruta!" Thatch smiled.

"We're not leaving for a week or so, so maybe we'll meet again." Haruta waved to them cheerily and continued down the street.

She took a turn into a dark alleyway and shook the pouch a bit. "Idiots. But man, this is a lot of money."

* * *

"I want a crate of apples and a crate of peaches, to be delivered to the second ship docked at the pier. It's shaped like a whale."

"I'll need a down payment now and the rest after it's delivered." the old man croaked.

"Nah, we'll give it all to you now. It's too much of a hassle to keep track of how much we owe to who."

Seeing that the old man had nodded his agreement, Thatch reached down to grab his pouch of money.

"Um… Marco?"

"Yeah?'

"Is it just me, or is the money missing?"

"We literally spent twenty minutes on the island and you managed to lose all of the money for restocking?"

"It was right here a second ago?!" he said with a hint of panic. If the money was well and truly lost… he shuddered, crying internally. Marco's going to deduct from my precious allowance again!

"There are a lot of thieves in the city. The locals know to avoid them, so they usually steal from newcomers." The owner of the fruit stand added his own thoughts. "They can sniff out money no matter how you hide it, so it's not wise to keep too much on you."

"But I would know if someone robbed me!" Thatch protested. "Marco? Hello?"

"I don't think anyone got close enough to take the money… You bumped into a kid, didn't you, yoi?"

"But what kind of thief would tell his name to strangers he just robbed? Isn't that just asking to be found?"

* * *

"Hey, old man. Is there anything I can do today?"

"Yes, actually. I need you to give a hand to my boys to get all the orders done today. Lots of merchants docked yesterday and today so we're behind."

"Great, thanks!" Haruta smiled.

* * *

"And the last order is…"

"A crate of apples and a crate of peaches, to the ship shaped like a whale."

"I don't suppose it's that huge ship over there?"

"I'm pretty sure that's a pirate flag…"

"I'm pretty sure it's the Whitebeard Pirates' flag…"

"Here, Haruta! We'll tell our old man to pay you extra for your troubles today, just finish this last delivery for us! We just remembered we have something urgent to do, so thanks!"

"Seriously, guys?" she shouted at the two teens' disappearing backs.

* * *

"Um… Hi?"

"What is this?"

"Fruit." she replied flatly.

"Hey, Jack? Did Commander Thatch mention he was purchasing fruit?"

"I don't remember. Go and ask."

"Yeah, sure. Wait here for a sec, kiddo."

Thatch… that sounded familiar. Not in a good way.

"They delivered the fruit? Yeah, I didn't pay the vendor for that yet. Let me get the money…"

Crap.

Yep, she knew him after all.

* * *

"We know it was you, yoi."

"Where's the proof?" She crossed her arms stubbornly.

"Seriously? Come on, kid."

"I told you, I didn't steal your money! And I'm not a kid, either!" She glared at Thatch.

"So you didn't take this bag from us?" Marco fished out an empty pouch with a familiar jolly roger on it from her pocket.

"..."

* * *

"I'm not giving it back. I don't even have it anymore."

"Okay." Thatch shrugged. "I guess you need it so it's fine."

"What do you mean, okay?!"

* * *

"We're leaving in three days. Wanna come? I know Pops already asked you."

"Go to hell. I'm not going to be a pirate."

"Why not? Don't you want to sail the Seas and see everything the world has to offer?"

"No."

"Then you wanna stay here forever?"

"Go away."

"Make me."

She glared at him. "I'm going to be a Marine."

"Bet they rejected you."

She hissed at him angrily, proving him right. "That's none of your business."

"Well, it is now, seeing as you're going to be my little brother. Come on, let's go! To adventure!" Thatch grinned.

* * *

"I'm confident that the higher-ups will accept Fire Fist as a Shichibukai. It is a decision to be expected. After all, prior to my visit to Marineford,the Marines were completely unaware of our existence. We have tipped them off this time."

"Zehahahaha! That's fine. We can always take out one of the other Warlords when the time comes. I still haven't found the fruit, but the lead I'm following now is reliable."

"Sengoku already knows that Jesus Burgess and the others were responsible for Drum. He'll be trying to catch us."

"He won't be able to find me until I have my fruit. What better hiding spot then under the shadow of the great 'Whitebeard'?

* * *

 **A/N:**

Hello! How has the summer been going for everyone?

I've actually been pretty busy lately doing things like community service.

(A quick mention, in case anyone is confused, the Whitebeards do not know Haruta is a girl. Some of the more perceptive ones will discover it, but yeah. Short hair and all, I think Haruta can act as a boy pretty convincingly).

***** An update on the status of this fanfiction:

Recently, I've finished my emergency stockpile of chapters (and all of my brain juice, apparently) so I've been unproductive…

This has made me take some time to consider this fanfiction, and based on my observations not everyone is content with my frequent lapses and changes in my schedule, which have been occurring more commonly.

I am regretful to inform you that this will most likely continue until I find an updating schedule I can adapt to with the loss of my pre-written chapters, or until I have a sudden burst of inspiration and miraculously write 20k in one night.

After reviewing and rereading ASL Reborn multiple times, I can assure you that I've made some changes in my plot for the next few chapters, which will make them easier to write.

I WILL NOT BE GIVING UP THIS FANFICTION ANYTIME SOON. *******

On the other hand, some news you might enjoy.

As we continue further down the plot, some of the characters that we haven't seen much of will begin to appear (Straw Hats, Revolutionary Army, Marines, etc.)

Also, things will be getting more exciting as we see some more action. Please be patient!

Review(s):

Hey, WhiteyWolf26! It's great to hear from you again. I know that with my wacky updates a lot of readers might think I've given this up and have stopped following, so I really appreciate someone leaving a review for me to provide encouragement and ideas. I'm not exactly that great at describing wounds or battles, so I probably won't be going into too much detail, but I'll make him undergo surgery or something… (Yup! I"m a evil person!) Blackbeard escaping smoothly is definite, because I have plans for him. In the future it might be a bit difficult to deal with him… Nahh, should be fine. In the manga, it's clear that Luffy fighting Blackbeard + the Navy will likely be the final showoff, but I might not necessarily make it like that. What do you think? Ideas will be helpful!

I will be going on vacation soon, and it is unlikely that I will squeeze out another chapter in such a short time, so… September, I guess.

Thank you to everyone for continuing to support ASL Reborn.


	19. Chapter 19

Hello! Still on time, right?

Thank you, all my wonderful Betas, for your hard work.

* * *

"It's actually been pretty quiet since Thatch left."

"Yeah," Namur agreed. "I'm not saying a bit of peace and quiet is bad, but…"

"Pops just _had_ to send Thatch of all people. Everyone except Haruta and Rakuyo could have gone..."

"Well, it has been a while since Thatch has left the ship, yoi," Marco interrupted. "I thought he could use a break."

"That makes sense, I suppose…"

The ship had a somber, heavy mood, likely due to the combined effects of Thatch being off ship and Haruta being 'moody'.

"Haruta's still out of it though. I wish I could just drag her to Bay or something so she could talk… but we know how that went last time."

"I told you that she's a special case. She doesn't want to talk about it, and I get it since it's personal. The best thing we can do now is wait," Bay snapped irritably.

Curiel jumped in surprise. "Jeez, Bay, don't sneak up on us like that!"

The doctor shot him a flat look. "I'm looking for Vista. Where is he?" she demanded.

"We have no idea!"

"He passed by a few minutes ago. He was headed towards the mess hall," Jiru supplied.

"Nice try, brat."

"Ehhhh? How did you know?"

"I didn't… but I do now," she deadpanned.

"Damn it!" Seeing that she had identified him as the next target for interrogation on the whereabouts of her patient, he squeaked out: "I still have to complete a lot of paperwork for the twelfth division, so bye and have fun!"

"Bet you a hundred belli that he doesn't get caught," Curiel whispered to Namur.

"No deal. Jiru never gets caught unless he wants to be."

"Aww, I was hoping for some spare change."

"What do you take me for?"

"It's just a joke! Relax!" Curiel wisely decided to slink off to one of the more obscure areas on the ship in order to clean his guns and to avoid being thrown overboard.

* * *

A messenger Coo dodged out of the way as two Sea Kings got into a fight. He was flying as fast as he could, lest one of the Sea Kings lounging in the unnaturally still sea decided they were hungry.

He didn't particularly want to be in the Calm Belt, where there was no wind to help or guide him, but he had to deliver the letter. He had already been delayed for two weeks, which left him with no choice but to take a shortcut that was very, very dangerous.

It wasn't really his fault that he'd been given the wrong location and that the pirates had been long gone; he had been forced to track them down by himself.

Then there was that horrific storm which had left him stuck on an island for days. If he had tried to depart, he would've been blown way off track.

Pirate crews that tried to shoot him for target practice (or for food?) were a pain as well. He usually managed to dodge their bullets, but he couldn't avoid them all, and he ended up losing more than a few feathers.

Now he was finally catching up and could deliver this letter, although... admittedly, it might be a little ruined…

* * *

"Well, would you look at this." Izou raised an eyebrow as the messenger Coo tiredly lifted up an envelope that looked like it had been dumped in the ocean, partially set on fire and scratched by a few cats.

"Coo," the bird chirped softly.

"Jiru!" Izou called out to his brother. "Could you take care of this bird? It looks very, very tired."

"It's not often that they manage to find us. Poor thing," Jiru ran his fingers through the avian's feathers. "I'll get you some food and you can stay here for a few nights until you feel like you're up to leaving, okay?"

* * *

"To My Dearest Brother-in-Law…?" Rakuyo raised an eyebrow, unamused at the fact that the first thing his wonderful family gave him upon his return from the mission was a damaged letter. "Who is this for again?"

Jiru had opened the envelope in hopes of salvaging parts of the letter, only to find another sealed envelope inside, which appeared to be waterproof and devoid of damage.

Then they ran into the obstacle of having no idea who it was for, and was passing it around to the commanders in hopes one of them would recognize it.

"Just open the letter. This is getting nowhere." Jozu grumbled.

"But this correspondence is private!" Izou glared at him. "Would you be delighted if half the crew were to read one of your love letters?"

"I don't write love le-"

"But we've checked with all the commanders already, and with everyone in the Fourth and Twelfth division as well," Curiel argued.

"Just open it, yoi."

"Opening it right now."

"..."

"Well?"

"Should I read it?"

"Hurry up, Rakuyo."

" _To my Dearest Brother-in_ -"

"Just get on to the letter part!"

"I'm skipping through the greetings…" Rakuyo muttered as he scanned the letter. " _In answer to your question, yes. Our status does indeed allow us certain benefits, including access to Impel Down, so long as we give an appropriate reason to do so, one that might pass through the eyes of not only the detestable Fleet Admiral but also the Five Elder Stars. If it is your wish to gain this access, as we believe it may be, you will have my (and that man's) full support. However, there have been rumors that those you are seeking have disappeared and are presumed to be deceased. I am more than willing to visit in your stead to confirm this and you only need to write me back. Should you fail to withdraw your offer to the marines, I will assume that you wish to go yourself_."

* * *

"..."

"So this is Impel Down. Pretty impressive, isn't it."

"Well, I wouldn't want to go in there even if they allowed us to," Aggie 68 shifted uneasily. "Then again, who would expect we'd become allies to the World Government? That's a rhetorical question, by the way," he added, seeing Skull open his mouth.

"While I would feel better knowing someone's going in with Captain… Bye! Have fun grilling Crocodile for the juicy details!" Banshee grinned at Ace.

"Please, find a way to notify us beforehand if we need to make a quick escape. Like, an obvious plume of flame or something?" Dusty added dryly.

"Glad you're all so confident in me," Ace smirked. "Let's do this!"

* * *

 **A/N** :

So, first off, happy holidays and happy new year, everyone! I'm really looking forward to 2020.

I also thought that I'd give you guys some teasers about where this is heading (I'm taking advantage of the break to forge ahead).

Likely, the next chapter will incorporate Ace's visit to Impel Down, and discovering that he can't find what he's looking for. The Strawhats may also make an appearance, depending on my mood (If not in the next chapter, definitely in one of the next few). I'd expect some Revolutionaries to begin showing up. I may or may not be taking a brief break from the Whitebeards, but the whole Thatch/Teach incident should come into play soon.

Yup, I'm not going to say more. :)

Be generous and leave me a review?


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